V 


REPORT 


UPON  THE 


IMPROVEMENT  AND 
ENLARGEMENT 


OF  THE 


WATER  SUPPLY 


OF  THE 


i|»i 
wBSm&tem: 

V'A' ' L 


CITY  OF  LYNN 


BY 


meg* 
00330 

Mg 


WILLIAM  S.  JOHNSON 

CIVIL  ENGINEER 


Wr&Km 

Iml'M 


V ‘ ' 


December  28,  1907 

(Printed  September,  1908.) 


I / • 


. 


• KSr<-  t,  V.frtV? 

. 


REPORT 

UPON  THE 

IMPROVEMENT  AND 
ENLARGEMENT 

OF  THE 

WATER  SUPPLY 

OF  THE 

CITY  OF  LYNN 


WILLIAM  S.  JOHNSON 

CIVIL  ENGINEER 


December  28,  1907 

(Printed  September,  1908.) 


6 2?.  \ 

\J5%t 


Press  of  Frank  S.  Whitten 

LYNN,  MASSACHUSETTS 


09 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

Scope  of  investigation  .........  5 

Historical  ............  8 

Growth  of  waterworks  .........  13 

Financial  ............  13 

Description  of  present  sources  of  supply  .....  19 

Table  of  elevations  ..........  23 

Description  of  Breed’s  pond  ........  23 

Description  of  Birch  pond  ........  25 

Description  of  Walden  pond  ........  27 

Description  of  Hawkes  pond  ........  29 

Description  of  Saugus  river  ........  30 

Summary  in  regard  to  physical  conditions  of  present  sources  . . 32 

Table  of  watersheds,  storage  capacities,  etc 32 

Quality  of  water  of  present  sources  .......  33 

Analyses  of  water  of  present  sources  ......  35 

Color  of  water  entering  ponds  ........  40 

Chlorine  in  water  entering  ponds  .......  41 

Odors  in  water  of  present  sources  .......  42 

Bacteria  in  water  of  present  sources  and  in  Ipswich  river  . . 45 

Capacity  of  present  sources 47 

Population 48 

Estimated  future  population  ........  49 

Consumption  of  water  . . . . . . ...  . 51 

Estimated  future  consumption  ........  56 

Improvement  of  the  present  sources  of  supply  ....  56 

Drainage  of  swamps  .........  57 

Improvement  of  bottoms  of  ponds  .......  58 

Protection  of  (sources  from  pollution  . . . . . . 61 

Improvement  of  the  Saugus  river  .......  64 


1 54390 


4 


Page. 

Methods  of  getting  water  from  the  Saugus  river  to  Walden  pond  . 66 

Changes  in  piping  ..........  71 

Quality  of  water  obtainable  from  present  sources  ....  73 

Use  of  tributaries  of  Saugus  river  .......  75 

Use  of  Beaver  dam  brook  ........  75 

Use  of  Pilling’s  pond  .........  76 

Filtration  of  the  present  sources  .......  81 

Quality  of  water  obtainable  by  filtration  ......  81 

Extension  of  present  sources  ........  91 

Supply  from  Metropolitan  District  .......  92 

Ipswich  river .95 

Different  methods  of  utilizing  Ipswich  river  .....  105 

Conclusions  in  regard  to  Ipswich  river  ......  125 

Summary  ............  126 


REPORT  UPON  THE 


IMPROVEMENT  and  ENLARGEMENT 

OF  THE  WATER  SUPPLY  OF  LYNN 


Boston,  December  28th,  1907. 
Public  Water  Board , Lynn , Mass.: 

Gentlemen, — In  accordance  with  your  instructions,  I 
have  made  a thorough  study  of  the  present  sources  of  water 
supply  of  the  city  of  Lynn  with  a view  to  determining  the 
best  method  of  improving  the  quality  of  the  water,  and 
have  investigated  other  possible  sources  of  supply  which 
might  be  used  either  independently  or  in  connection  with 
the  present  sources,  and  beg  to  submit  the  following  report. 

The  investigations  were  undertaken  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  Chapter  479  of  the  Acts  of  the  Legislature 
for  the  year  1907,  and  their  scope  is  indicated  by  Sections 
4 and  5 of  the  Act,  which  are  as  follows  : 

" Section  4.  The  construction  of  the  works  necessary 
for  the  enlargement  and  development  of  the  said  water 
supply  and  for  protecting  and  improving  the  quality  of  the 
water  shall  be  begun  by  said  city,  acting  through  its  Public 
Water  Board,  within  one  year,  and  shall  be  completed 
within  three  years  after  the  passage  of  this  act.  The  said 
works  shall  provide  an  adequate  quantity  of  good  water 


6 


for  all  the  requirements  of  the  city,  and  for  the  proper 
sanitary  protection  of  such  water,  and  for  the  elimination 
and  diversion  from  the  sources  of  supply  of  all  polluted 
waters,  or  for  their  purification  or  treatment,  in  such  man- 
ner as  will  fully  protect  the  public  health. 

"Section  5.  The  construction  of  the  said  works  shall 
be  carried  out  by  the  Public  Water  Board  of  said  city,  and 
the  Board  is  hereby  further  authorized  and  directed  to 
make  all  necessary  preliminary  investigations  and  to  pre- 
pare plans  for  the  works,  and  for  this  purpose  shall  have 
power  to  employ  engineering  experts  as  to  the  sanitary 
protection,  storage  and  purification  of  water,  and  such 
other  assistance  as  may  be  necessary.  The  preliminary 
investigations  herein  authorized  shall  include  : an  estimate 
of  the  cost  of  cleansing  and  making  sanitary  the  water- 
sheds of  Pillings  pond  and  Beaver  dam  brook,  so-called, 
in  the  town  of  Lynnfield,  and  of  the  cost  of  connecting  the 
same  with  the  present  sources  of  water  supply,  together 
with  an  estimate  of  the  amount  of  increase  in  the  supply  of 
water  obtainable  by  the  use  of  said  pond  and  brook ; an 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  a conduit  or  pipe  line  to  convey 
water  from  the  Ipswich  river  or  Martin’s  brook,  either 
separately  or  in  connection  with  the  water  of  Pilling’s  pond 
and  Beaver  dam  brook  into  the  present  reservoirs  of  the 
city  of  Lynn,  or  for  pumping  water  either  from  said  Ips- 
wich river  or  said  Martin’s  brook  into  said  Pillings  pond, 
or  the  present  reservoirs  by  the  plan  deemed  by  said  Board 
to  be  most  advisable ; an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  cleaning 
or  covering  the  bottom  of  Walden  pond  or  the  other  ponds 
as  have  not  so  been  treated ; an  investigation  of  the  quality 
of  the  waters  of  all  of  the  various  sources  and  tributaries 
now  used  or  available  for  the  use  of  said  city  with  chemical 
and  bacterial  examinations  thereof,  at  such  points  as  may 
be  agreed  upon  by  the  engineers  and  experts  employed  by 


7 


the  Lynn  Water  Board  and  the  State  Board  of  Health, 
including  an  investigation  of  all  sources  and  causes  of 
pollution  or  objection  affecting  the  present  or  proposed 
sources  of  supply  of  the  city  of  Lynn,  the  best  methods  of 
removing  the  same,  and  the  estimated  cost  thereof.” 

It  was  found  at  the  outset  that  little  reliable  information 
as  to  the  present  sources  of  supply  of  the  city  was  avail- 
able. Such  plans  and  surveys  of  different  portions  of  the 
system  as  may  have  been  necessary  for  construction  pur- 
poses have  been  made  from  time  to  time  by  different  engi- 
neers, but  few  record  plans  have  been  made  and  preserved  ; 
consequently  it  seemed  desirable  to  obtain  from  surveys,  so 
far  as  possible,  information  as  to  the  various  ponds  which 
constitute  the  present  sources  of  water  supply  and  as  to 
their  watersheds,  as  well  as  concerning  any  proposed 
sources  of  supply,  rather  than  to  attempt  to  gather  the 
information  from  the  data  in  the  possession  of  the  depart- 
ment. All  of  the  work  has  been  done  with  a view  to  fur- 
nishing accurate  information  which  will  be  of  use  in  con- 
nection with  any  future  work  which  may  be  undertaken. 

A thorough  inspection  has  also  been  made  of  the  pos- 
sible sources  of  pollution  on  the  watersheds  of  the  various 
ponds  with  a view  to  determining  the  best  method  of  pre- 
venting the  pollution  of  the  sources  of  supply  and  the  cost 
of  the  same. 

Chemical  and  bacterial  analyses  have  been  made,  as 
required  by  the  legislative  act,  of  the  present  sources  of 
supply  and  of  other  sources  available  for  the  supply  of  the 
city.  These  analyses  have  been  made  by  the  State  Board 
of  Health  and  the  detailed  results,  together  with  the  results 


8 


of  analyses  of  the  various  sources  made  in  previous  years, 
are  appended. 

The  plans  which  have  been  made  in  connection  with  the 
work  and  which  are  submitted  herewith,  include  : 

1.  A large  wall  map  on  a scale  of  1,000  feet  to  an  inch 
showing  the  surveyed  watersheds  of  the  present  sources  of 
supply,  and  of  the  Ipswich  river  and  its  tributaries. 

2.  Plans  of  the  ponds  and  of  portions  of  their  water- 
sheds, showing  the  depth  of  water,  the  depth  and  extent 
of  the  mud  on  the  bottoms  of  the  ponds  and  the  area  and 
location  of  swamps  upon  the  watersheds. 

3.  Plans  and  profiles  showing  in  detail  those  plans  for 
developing  the  supply  which  appear  to  be  the  most  feasi- 
ble. 

4.  A set  of  plans  of  a filtration  plant  for  the  purification 
of  the  water  by  slow  sand  filtration. 

5.  Rough  plans  showing  the  different  studies  which 
have  been  made  for  the  development  of  the  supply  along 
lines  which  have  not  been  worked  out  in  detail,  the  pre- 
liminary studies  having  shown  them  to  be  of  less  value  than 
other  schemes. 

Historical 

The  first  important  action  by  the  city  of  Lynn  toward 
obtaining  a public  water  supply  was  taken  in  1869,  when 
the  city  government  after  several  large  conflagrations  in  the 
city,  petitioned  the  legislature  for  authority  to  take  water 
from  Humphrey’s  or  Flax  ponds.  An  authorizing  act  was 
obtained  from  the  legislature  in  that  year.  The  city,  how- 
ever^  voted  against  the  introduction  of  a water  supply,  and 


9 


a temporary  arrangement  was  made  with  the  parties  con- 
trolling Flax  pond  for  laying  water  pipes  from  that  source 
to  the  center  of  the  city  for  fire  protection  purposes  only. 
This  was  done  during  the  year  1869  at  a cost  of  $32,000. 

In  1870^  a small  mill  privilege  at  Breed’s  pond  was  pur- 
chased, together  with  the  land  and  buildings  connected 
therewith.  The  dam  was  partially  rebuilt,  a gate-house 
erected  and  a 12-inch  main  laid  to  connect  with  the  mains 
which  had  been  laid  from  Flax  pond  during  the  previous 
year.  The  total  expenditure  for  bringing  this  supply  into 
the  city  was  a little  more  than  $60,000.  Although  at  the 
time  of  purchasing  Breed’s  pond  it  was  not  anticipated  that 
the  water  would  be  used  for  domestic  purposes,  it  was 
decided  in  the  latter  part  of  1870  to  allow  house  connec- 
tions to  be  made  with  the  pipes,  and  during  the  months  of 
November  and  December  about  fifty  such  connections  were 
made.  The  supply  from  Flax  pond  was  shut  off  at  this 
time. 

The  elevation  of  Breed’s  pond  when  full  was  at  that 
time  but  62  feet  above  mean  high  tide,  and  in  order  to  sup- 
ply water  to  the  higher  portions  of  the  city  and  make  effec- 
tive use  of  the  fire  hydrants  a small  engine  was  purchased 
and  placed  in  the  factory  building  at  Breed’s  pond.  The 
pumps  were  operated  during  working  hours,  but  during 
the  night,  except  in  case  of  fire,  the  supply  was  by  gravity. 
The  expenditure  for  the  engine  and  its  connections  was 
$7,800. 

In  1871,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  legalizing 
the  purchase  of  Breed’s  pond  and  providing  for  the  issue  of 
bonds,  and  in  that  year  work  was  begun  upon  the  con- 


IO 


struction  of  the  present  pumping  station  and  distributing 
reservoir  and  a complete  system  of  distribution  pipes. 

Up  to  this  time  the  work  of  construction  had  been  car- 
ried on  by  a water  supply  committee  of  the  city  council, 
but  on  the  12th  of  July,  1871,  an  ordinance  was  passed  by 
the  city  council  establishing  a public  water  board  of  the 
city  of  Lynn,  and  " the  charge,  superintendence  and  over- 
sight of  all  structures,  works,  arrangements,  and  apparatus 
designed  and  provided  for  obtaining  and  supplying  pure 
water  for  the  uses  of  the  city,”  were  transferred  to  the 
newly  elected  water  board. 

Late  in  1872,  the  pumping  plant,  consisting  of  the 
Leavitt  pump  at  present  in  use,  was  put  into  service,  and 
the  distributing  reservoir  was  completed.  The  leakage 
from  the  reservoir  was  so  great,  however,  that  it  was  unser- 
viceable, and  during  the  following  year  the  bottom  was 
thoroughly  puddled  and  made  practically  tight. 

In  1873,  three  years  after  the  introduction  of  water,  it 
became  necessary  to  obtain  an  additional  supply,  and  in 
September  of  that  year  the  work  of  constructing  the  Birch 
pond  dam  was  begun. 

An  investigation  was  made  in  1876,  by  James  P.  Kirk- 
wood, civil  engineer,  with  reference  to  obtaining  an 
additional  water  supply,  and  the  construction  of  reservoirs 
on  Penny  and  Hawkes  brooks  was  recommended. 

In  1878,  the  dam  at  Breed’s  pond  was  raised  about  three 
feet.  A contract  was  made  in  1878  with  the  town  of  Sau- 
gus to  supply  a portion  of  that  town  with  water,  and  since 
that  time  Saugus  has  been  supplied  from  the  Lynn  works, 
the  contract  having  been  renewed  from  time  to  time. 


In  1880,  the  water  supply  again  becoming  insufficient  for 
the  needs  of  the  city,  investigations  were  made  with  refer- 
ence to  obtaining  an  additional  supply  by  means  of  tubular 
wells,  and  twenty-eight  wells  1 and  1-2  inches  in  diameter 
and  from  36  to  39  feet  in  depth  were  driven  near  Straw- 
berry brook  at  the  point  where  the  brook  meets  tide  water. 
Additional  wells  were  sunk  later  in  order  to  increase  the 
supply  from  this  source  and  water  was  drawn  from  the 
wells  nearly  every  year  till  1886.  The  water  drawn  from 
the  wells  during  the  last  years  of  their  use  was  seriously 
affected  by  the  inflow  of  salt  water. 

In  1883  an  investigation  was  made  by  Phineas  Ball,  C. 
E.,  with  reference  to  an  additional  water  supply,  and  as  a 
result  of  his  investigations,  work  was  begun  during  the 
latter  part  of  that  year  upon  the  construction  of  a canal 
between  the  Saugus  river  at  Rowlett’s  dam  and  Birch 
pond,  this  canal  intercepting  the  waters  of  *Penny  and 
Hawkes  brooks. 

The  dam  at  Birch  pond  was  raised  in  1885  about  nine 
feet,  and  as  the  canal  from  the  Saugus  river  entered  the 
pond  at  a lower  level,  a pipe  line  was  constructed  through 
the  bottom  of  the  pond  to  the  gate-house  in  order  that  the 
water  from  the  canal  might  be  conveyed  directly  to  the 
pumping  station  when  Birch  pond  was  full.  The  water- 
shed of  Birch  pond  did  not  yield  sufficient  water  to  fill  the 
pond  after  the  raising  of  the  dam  and  a pumping  plant  was 
erected  at  the  upper  end  of  the  pond  in  1887  for  the  pur- 
pose of  raising  water  from  the  canal  to  the  pond. 

In  1888,  the  construction  of  Walden  and  Glen  Lewis 
ponds  upon  Penny  brook,  one  of  the  streams  intercepted 


12 


by  the  canal,  was  begun,  and  this  work  was  completed  in 
1889. 

In  1890,  the  capacity  of  the  pumping  plant  at  Walnut 
street  was  increased  by  the  addition  of  a Loretz  pumping 
engine,  with  a rated  capacity  of  10,000,000  gallons  per 
day. 

During  the  years  1895  and  1896,  Hawkes  pond  was 
constructed  on  Hawkes  brook,  the  second  brook  which 
was  tributary  to  the  canal. 

The  high  service  system,  consisting  of  a high  service 
pump  located  in  the  Walnut  street  pumping  station,  and  a 
steel  tank  at  an  elevation  about  82  feet  above  the  elevation 
of  the  distributing  reservoir  was  installed  in  1895  to  serve 
the  higher  sections  of  the  city. 

The  construction  of  a canal  from  the  Saugus  river  at 
Montrose  to  Hawkes  pond  was  begun  in  1897  and  com- 
pleted in  1*898.  Upon  the  completion  of  this  canal,  the 
canal  from  the  Saugus  river  at  Howlett’s  dam  was  aband- 
oned, and  water  from  the  Saugus  river  was  taken  only 
from  Montrose. 

In  the  year  1901,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature 
authorizing  the  city  to  construct  filtration  works  and  to  take 
water  from  the  Ipswich  river. 

In  1902,  the  Walden  pond  pumping  station  was  con- 
structed for  the  purpose  of  pumping  water  from  Hawkes 
pond  into  Walden  pond.  At  the  same  time  the  raising  of 
the  Walden  pond  dam  twenty  feet  above  its  former  level, 
causing  the  water  to  flood  the  Glen  Lewis  pond,  and  form- 
ing the  present  Walden  pond,  was  begun,  this  work  being 
completed  in  1905. 


i3 


An  investigation  relative  to  improving  and  enlarging  the 
water  supply  was  made  by  direction  of  the  legislature  in 
1906,  by  the  State  Board  of  Health  and  the  water  board  of 
Lynn,  acting  jointly. 

In  order  to  show  the  rapid  development  of  the  water- 
works system,  the  following  table  has  been  prepared, 
showing  the  population  of  Lynn  and  Saugus,  the  quantity 
of  water  used,  the  total  cost  of  the  works  to  date  and  the 
yearly  income  derived  from  the  works  at  the  end  of  each 
5-year  period  from  1875  to  I9°5»  inclusive. 


Table  Showing  Growth  of  Lynn  Water  Works. 


Year. 

Population 
of  Lynn  and 
Saugus. 

Average  Daily 
Consumption. 
(Gallons) 

Total  Net 
Cost  of 
Works  to 
Date. 

Yearly 

Income. 

Number 

of 

Services. 

Length  of 
Distribu- 
ting pipe 
(Miles) 

1875  . . 

*32,600 

1,291,000 

$910,260 

$52,553 

3,224 

48.6 

1880  . . 

40,899 

1,235,000 

1,008,390 

79,635 

4,488 

57-3 

1885  . . 

48,722 

1,921,000 

1,292,510 

110,089 

6,919 

79.1 

1890  . . 

59,40° 

2,657,000 

1,833,348 

154,788 

9,490 

101.6 

1895  : . 

66,851 

4,360,000 

2,232,430 

i85,573 

11,698 

124.8 

1900  . . 

73-597 

4,680,000 

2,472,821 

199,004 

12,569 

129.4 

1905  . . 

83,295 

4,924,000 

2,965,704 

240,476 

13,556 

138.0 

* Saugus  omitted  this  year  as  the  town  was  not  supplied  from  the  Lynn  Works  until 
1878. 


Financial. 

For  the  purpose  of  showing  the  financial  condition  of  the 
water  works,  the  following  tables  are  introduced,  giving 
certain  facts,  in  regard  to  the  cost  of  the  different  portions 
of  the  system,  the  gross  and  net  income  of  the  water 
department,  and  the  net  debt  each  year  taken  from  the 
annual  reports  of  the  Water  Board. 


x4 


This  table  shows  that  the  Water  Department  is  making 
a very  substantial  profit  each  year,  and  this  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  the  water  rates  are  not  high  as  compared 
with  the  rates  in  other  cities.  The  net  income  each  year 
is  turned  into  the  sinking  fund  for  the  purpose  of  paying 
off  bonds  when  they  mature.  The  amount  so  paid  is 
much  larger  than  is  necessary  for  the  purpose,  and  if  pay- 
ments are  made  in  the  future  as  they  have  been  in  the  past, 
it  will  soon  become  necessary  to  make  some  other  dis- 
position of  the  surplus  in  order  to  keep  the  sinking  fund 
from  attaining  undue  proportions. 


i5 


Total  Net  Cost  of  Water  Works  to  January  1st,  1907. 


Breed’s  pond 

. 

$ Hi^S-28 

Birch  “ 

9 3,47x-84 

Walden  44 

. 

564,410.38 

Hawkes  44 

. 

161,036.53 

New  Supply  (Saugus  river,  old  canal 
tunnel,  etc.)  .... 

338,970.92 

Canal  from  Saugus  river  to  Hawkes  pond. 

47i947-33 

Pipe  conduits 

. 

81,289.39 

Walden  pond  pumping  plant 

. 

83,003.72 

Walnut  street  pumping  station 

. 

57>562-39 

Pumps  and  boilers 

. 

140,327.29 

Force-mains 

. 

4i,54<5-i3 

Distributing  reservoir 

• 

131,581.49 

Standpipe  and  high  service  pumps 

34,274.07 

Highland  service 

. 

t2,43I-I7 

Mains,  hydrants  and  gates  . 

. 

883,404.99 

Services  .... 

. 

337,885.20 

Meters  .... 

37>53M2 

Miscellaneous 

• 

23,  *99-94 

Total  .... 

. . 

$3, 1 27,009.48 

Less  amount  received  for  extra 

pipe  . 

160,296.26 

Total  net  cost 

, , 

$2,966,713.22 

Moth:. — The  cost  of  19.7  miles  of  pipe  and  services  in  Saugus  and  0.3  miles  of  pipe  and 
services  in  Swampscott  is  not  included  in  the  above  table. 


Table  Showing  Net  Water  Works  Debt  from  1890  to  1906 

Inclusive. 


Year. 

Population. 

Net  Debt. 

Net  Debt. 
Per  person, 

1890 

59,4°° 

$i*366*377 

$23.00 

1891 

60,890 

1,376,128 

22.60 

1892 

62,380 

1 *347*755 

2 I .6l 

i893 

63,870 

I,4I2,327 

22.  I I 

i894 

65,360 

1,348,600 

20.63 

i895 

66,85 1 

1,436,024 

21.48 

1896 

68,200 

I ,420,048 

20.82 

i897 

69i549 

I*389*°4I 

T9-97 

1898 

70,899 

1,348,608 

19.02 

lS99 

72*247 

I,3I7,24° 

18.23 

1900 

73*597 

1,276,272 

•7-34 

I9OI 

75*537 

1,133,866 

15.01 

1902 

77*476 

1,532,503 

19-76 

I9°3 

79>4l6 

1,470,866 

18.52 

I9°4 

81  *355 

IAI3AH 

1 7-37 

I9°5 

83.295 

lA12A92 

16.96 

1906 

85*235 

1,335,238 

15-65 

Table  Showing  Revenue  from  Water  Works  each  Year 
from  1875  to  1906,  Inclusive. 


Year. 

Population. 

Revenue. 

Revenue  per  person, 

■875 

32,600 

$52,553 

$I.6l 

1876 

33,734 

60,807 

1 .80 

1877 

34,869 

64,002 

1 .84 

1878 

38,6io 

67,57° 

I*75 

i879 

39,754 

73,95° 

1.86 

l88o 

4°,899 

79,635 

I*95 

l88l 

42,464 

80,968 

1.91 

l882 

44,029 

94,420 

2. 14 

1883 

45,594 

98,894  • 

2.17 

1884 

47,J59 

n4,904 

2.44 

1885 

48,722 

I 10,089 

2.26 

1886 

50,858 

116,574 

2.29 

1887 

5 2, 994 

123,508 

2-33 

1888 

55,!3° 

134,481 

2.44 

1889 

57,266 

141,866 

2.48 

189O 

59,400 

154,788 

2.61 

189I 

60,890 

1 71 ,745 

2.82 

1892 

62,380 

188,980 

3-°3 

i893 

63,87° 

1 77,804 

2.78 

1894 

65,36° 

■76,655 

2.70 

i895 

66,851 

■85,573 

2.78 

1896 

68,200 

■9°,53i 

2.79 

i897 

69,549 

183,712 

2.64 

1898 

70,899 

186,658 

2.63 

1899 

72,247 

■93,699 

2.68 

1900 

73,597 

199,004 

2.70 

1901 

75,537 

203,078 

2.69 

1902 

77,476 

215,692 

2.78 

I9°3 

79,4t6 

224,44° 

2.83 

I9°4 

8', 355 

233i7°7 

2.87 

I9°5 

83,295 

240,476 

2.89 

1906 

85,235 

259,255 

3*°4 

Note:  Figures  for  1875-1877  are  for  Lynn  only.  After  1877  Saugus  is  included,  and 
after  1886  a small  portion  of  Swampscott. 


i8 


Table  Showing  Net  Income  from  Water  Works  each  Year 
from  1875  to  1906,  Inclusive. 


Year. 

Population. 

Net  Income. 

Net  Income 
per  person. 

1875 

32,600 

$28,843* 

O.89* 

1876 

33,734 

9,729* 

O.29* 

1877 

34,869 

3,840* 

O.II* 

1878 

38,610 

674* 

.02* 

i879 

39,754 

12,907 

0.32 

1880 

40,899 

17,127 

O.42 

1881 

42,464 

'4,i79 

o-33 

1882 

44,029 

27,777 

0.63 

i883 

•45,594 

22,001 

0.48 

00 

00 

47, '59 

26,735 

o-57 

00 

00 

48,722 

26,573 

°-55 

1886 

50,858 

32,269 

0.63 

1 887 

52,994 

35,574 

0.67 

1888 

55>'3° 

30,027 

°-54 

1889 

57,266 

46,Il8 

0.81 

1890 

59, 4°° 

5^344 

0.86 

1891 

60,890 

58,325 

0.96 

1892 

62,380 

90,960 

'•46 

l893 

63,870 

65,068 

1.02 

ON 

00 

hH 

65,360 

52,048 

0.80 

1895 

66,851 

73,54' 

1. 10 

I896 

68,200 

54,821 

0.80 

i897 

69,549 

43,898 

0.63 

1898 

70,899 

60,551 

0.85 

1899 

72,247 

44,006 

0.61 

1900 

73,597 

72,309 

0.98 

1901 

75,537 

52,097 

0.69 

1902 

77,476 

83,028 

1.07 

I9°3 

79,416 

4x,!27 

0.52 

I9°4 

8i,355 

31,000 

0.38 

I9°5 

83,295 

46,000 

°-55 

1906 

♦Deficiency. 

85,235 

64,000 

°-75 

Note  : — Figures  from  1875-1877  are  for  Lynn  only.  After  1877  Saugus  is  included,  and 
after  1886  a small  portion  of  Swampscott. 

x9 


Present  Sources  of  Supply. 

The  present  sources  of  supply  consist  of  four  storage 
reservoirs  which  have  been  constructed  on  small  brooks  in 
the  westerly  portion  of  Lynn  and  Saugus,  known  as  Breed’s 
Birch,  Walden  and  Hawkes  ponds  ; and  the  Saugus  river, 
water  from  which  is  taken  at  a point  in  Montrose  in  the 
town  of  Lynnfield. 

Water  from  the  Saugus  river  is  diverted  into  Hawkes 
pond  by  means  of  a canal.  The  water  is  drawn  from 
Hawkes  pond  through  an  open  canal  to  the  Walden  pond 
pumping  station,  from  which  point  it  is  pumped  into  either 
Walden  pond  or  Birch  pond,  or  when  Birch  pond  is  at  a 
low  level  it  can  be  discharged  by  gravity  into  this  pond. 
The  water  of  Walden  pond  is  drawn  into  Birch  pond  by 
means  of  a pipe  line  and  tunnel.  From  Birch  and  Breed’s 
ponds  pipe  lines  are  laid  directly  to  the  pumping  station  on 
Walnut  street,  and  there  is  a connection  between  these  two 
lines,  so  that  some  water  can  be  discharged  from  Birch 
pond  into  Breed’s  pond,  or  vice  versa.  The  capacity  of 
the  pipe  line  from  Breed’s  pond  to  the  pumping  station  is 
not  sufficient  to  supply  the  quantity  of  water  required  by 
the  pumps,  so  that  at  all  times  some  water  must  be  drawn 
from  Birch  pond,  and  with  the  present  arrangements,  all 
of  the  water,  except  that  which  is  contributed  by  the  nat- 
ural watershed  of  Breed’s  pond,  must  pass  through  Birch 
pond. 

The  channel  from  the  Saugus  river  to  Hawkes  pond 
consists  of  2,430  feet  of  open  canal,  220  feet  of  concrete 
conduit,  220  feet  of  stone  culvert,  and  730  feet  of  tunnel. 


20 


The  canal  is  8 feet  wide  on  the  bottom,  with  side  slopes 
of  i 1-2  to  i.  The  tunnel  and  the  culverts  have  a much 
larger  area  than  the  canal.  The  elevation  of  the  bottom 
of  the  canal  at  its  upper  end  is  70.8  and  at  its  lower  end 
is  70.3  The  elevation  of  the  Saugus  river  is  ordinarily 
only  70.5  feet,  so  that  whenever  it  is  desired  to  divert 
water  through  the  canal,  the  water  in  the  river  is  raised  by 
closing  the  gates  in  a small  dam  which  has  been  con- 
structed across  the  river  just  below  the  head  of  the  canal. 
This  dam  raises  the  water  to  about  elevation,  75.2  feet, 
and  with  the  water  in  the  Saugus  river  at  this  elevation, 
the  capacity  of  the  canal  is  about  30,000,000  gallons  per 
24  hours.  The  raising  of  the  water  of  the  Saugus  river  in 
this  manner  floods  vast  areas  of  meadow  land  bordering 
the  river,  to  a slight  depth.  The  elevation  of  high  water 
in  Hawkes  pond  is  77.85,  so  that  water  can  be  drawn  from 
the  Saugus  river  only  when  the  water  in  Hawkes  pond  is 
about  three  feet  below  high  water. 

The  canal  from  Hawkes  pond  to  the  pumping  station, 
through  which  all  of  the  water  from  this  reservoir  is 
drawn,  is  irregular  in  section,  and  in  one  place  where  it 
passes  close  to  possible  sources  of  pollution,  a 48-inch  pipe 
has  been  laid  to  replace  the  canal.  The  total  length  of 
this  canal  is  4,480  feet,  and  its  present  capacity  is  probably 
in  the  vicinity  of  20,000,000  gallons  per  day.  At  the 
pumping  station,  the  canal  discharges  into  a pump  well, 
where  the  water  is  passed  through  screens  before  going  to 
the  pumps. 

The  Walden  pond  pumping  plant  is  supposed  to  have  a 
capacity  of  30,000,000  gallons  per  day.  It  has  been  found, 


21 


however,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  operate  the  pumps 
at  a greater  rate  than  20,000,000  gallons  per  day,  even  if 
the  canal  from  Hawkes  pond  should  be  sufficient  to  supply 
a greater  quantity  than  this. 

From  the  pumping  station  the  water  is  forced  through  a 
30-inch  force-main  about  1,800  feet  in  length  to  Walden 
pond,  the  pipe  used  for  a force-main  being  also  used  for 
drawing  water  from  the  pond. 

The  elevation  of  high  water  in  Hawkes  pond  is  77.85 
feet,  and  high  water  in  Walden  pond  is  93.91  feet,  a 
difference  of  16.06  feet.  The  water  from  Hawkes  pond, 
however,  is  drawn  by  gravity  to  the  pump  well  at  the 
pumping  station  at  an  elevation  of  about  54  feet,  so  that 
although  the  difference  in  elevation  between  the  ponds  is 
only  16  feet,  the  lift  necessary  to  get  the  water  from 
Hawkes  pond  into  Walden  pond  when  the  pond  is  full  is 
about  40  feet. 

From  the  Walden  pond  pumping  station  to  the  head  of 
the  canal  above  Birch  pond  there  are  two  lines  of  30-inch 
pipe.  These  pipes  are  connected  with  the  Hawkes  pond 
canal  at  Walden  pond  pumping  station,  and  with  the  30- 
inch  pipe  line  running  from  the  pumping  station  to  Wal- 
den pond.  The  length  of  each  of  these  30-inch  pipe  lines 
is  about  2,250  feet.  The  tunnel  at  the  upper  end  of  Birch 
pond,  into  which  the  30-inch  pipes  discharge  is  6 feet  high, 
7 feet  wide,  and  1,358  feet  long.  The  bottom  of  the  tun- 
nel where  it  discharges  into  the  pond  is  considerably  below 
the  elevation  of  high-water  in  Birch  pond,  so  that  when  the 
pond  is  full  the  tunnel  is  operated  under  a head. 

The  pipes  from  Birch  pond  to  the  pumping  station  con- 


22 


sist  of  a 22-inch  cement-lined  pipe,  which  was  the  pipe 
originally  laid,  and  a 30-inch  cast-iron  main.  The  lengths 
of  these  pipes  are  approximately  5,750  feet  and  6,250  feet 
respectively. 

The  pipe  from  Breed’s  pond  to  the  pumping  station  is 
of  wrought  iron  lined  with  cement  18  inches  in  diameter 
and  about  2,228  feet  in  length.  At  the  pumping  station  a 
connection  has  been  made  between  the  pipes  from  Birch 
pond  and  the  pipe  from  Breed’s  pond,  so  that  the  water 
from  one  pond  can  be  discharged  into  the  other.  The 
elevation  of  the  two  ponds  when  full  is  nearly  the  same,  so 
that  the  quantity  of  water  which  can  be  discharged  from 
one  pond  into  the  other  through  the  small  pipe  from  Breed’s 
pond  to  the  pumping  station  is  very  limited. 

At  the  Walnut  street  pumping  station  the  water  was 
originally  discharged  into  a pump  well,  but  at  the  present 
time  the  pipes  from  the  ponds  are  connected  directly  with 
the  pumps  so  that  the  water  comes  to  the  pumps  under  a 
head  and  there  is  no  suction.  The  elevation  of  the  floor 
of  the  pumping  station  is  about  48  feet. 

From  the  pumping  station  the  water  is  forced  through 
two  lines  of  pipes  1,700  feet  in  length  to  the  low  service 
distributing  reservoir,  or  through  another  pipe  line  of  about 
the  same  length  to  the  high  service  distributing  reservoir. 
The  pipes  to  the  low  service  distributing  reservoir  are  20 
inches  and  30  inches  respectively,  the  former  being  cement 
lined  and  the  latter  cast-iron.  The  pipe  to  the  high  ser- 
vice reservoir  is  of  cast-iron  16  inches  in  diameter,  and  a 
connection  is  also  made  between  this  pipe  and  the  low  ser- 
vice reservoir,  so  that  it  can  be  used  for  either  purpose. 


23 


There  are  two  pumps  used  for  the  low  service,  a Leavitt 
pump  having  a nominal  capacity  of  5,000,000  gallons  per 
24  hours,  which  has  been  in  use  for  about  thirty-five  years  ; 
and  a Loretz  pump  having  a nominal  capacity  of  10,000,- 
000  gallons  per  24  hours,  which  has  been  in  use  19  years. 
The  pumps  used  for  the  high  service  are  two  1,500,000 
gallon  Loretz  pumps,  installed  in  1895. 

The  low  service  reservoir  is  an  open  basin  constructed 
with  earth  embankments.  Its  area  when  full  is  5 acres ; its 
depth  15  feet,  and  its  capacity  20,000,000  gallons. 

The  high  service  distributing  reservoir  consists  of  a steel 
tank  50  feet  in  diameter,  35  feet  high,  and  containing  when 
full  500,000  gallons  of  water. 

The  relative  elevation  of  the  different  sources  of  supply 


and  the  distributing  reservoirs,  is  as  follows  : 

Saugus  river  at  Montrose  (normal)  . . . 70.5 

Saugus  river  at  Montrose  (when  canals  are  in 

use) 75.2 

Hawkes  pond,  high  water  ....  77.85 

Walden  pond  pumping  station  pump  well  . 54. 
Walden  pond,  high  water  . . . . 93.9 1 

Birch  pond,  high  water  .....  68.7 

Breed’s  pond  .......  67.9 

Walnut  street  pumping  station  floor  . . . 48. 

Low  service  distributing  reservoir  . . .187. 

High  service  distributing  reservoir  . . . 269. 


Breed's  Pond.  Breed’s  pond,  the  first  source  of  supply, 
was  originally  used  as  a mill  pond,  furnishing  power  for  a 
small  factory,  located  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  dam. 
Water  from  this  source  was  first  used  for  domestic  pur- 
poses in  1871,  and  at  that  time  the  depth  of  the  water  at  the 
dam  was  17  feet,  but  in  1878  the  dam  was  raised  3 feet. 


24 


Up  to  1907,  none  of  the  mud  or  other  organic  matter  at 
the  bottom  of  the  pond  had  been  removed  or  covered,  fur- 
ther than  the  removal  of  some  of  the  stumps  near  the  shore. 
The  mud  covers  an  area  of  about  45  acres,  or  77  per  cent 
of  the  total  area  of  the  pond.  During  the  summer  of  1907, 
two  small  areas  of  shallow  flowage  near  the  upper  end  of 
the  pond  were  improved  by  covering  them  with  a layer  of 
gravel,  and  a large  number  of  stumps  in  the  shallower  por- 
tions of  the  pond  removed  and  burned.  The  pond  for  the 
most  part  has  steep  banks  and  is  well  adapted  for  the  stor- 
age of  water,  and  would  make  an  excellent  reservoir  if  the 
mud  were  removed  from  the  bottom. 

The  watershed  of  the  pond  comprises  1.07  square  miles, 
a large  portion  of  which  is  within  the  limits  of  the  Lynn 
Woods,  but  there  are  several  houses  within  the  watershed 
located  not  far  from  the  shore  of  the  reservoir  near  the  dam. 
The  population  within  the  watershed  amounts  to  47  per- 
sons per  square  mile  of  watershed.  One  of  the  roadways 
in  the  Lynn  Woods  follows  the  shore  of  the  pond  on  one 
side,  and  wash  from  this  road  finds  its  way  more  or  less 
directly  into  the  pond.  Several  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
pond  also  receive  more  or  less  street  wash.  There  are  sev- 
eral large  swamps  within  the  watershed,  aggregating  in 
area  about  111  acres. 

The  water  entering  the  pond  from  the  different  tributaries 
is  of  poor  quality,  being  exceedingly  high  colored  and 
containing  a large  quantity  of  organic  matter,  due  to  its 
contact  with  the  organic  matter  in  the  swamps  through 
which  the  streams  pass.  Considerable  of  the  color  in  the 
water  entering  the  pond  is  lost  by  the  bleaching  effect  of 


25 


long  storage  in  the  pond,  since  most  of  the  water  enters  at 
the  upper  end.  The  water  drawn  from  the  pond  is,  how- 
ever, at  times  highly  colored,  and  frequently  has  a dis- 
agreeeble  taste  and  odor,  due  to  growths  of  organisms  to 
which  the  pond  is  subject. 

Breed’s  pond  has  in  the  past  furnished  better  water  than 
any  of  the  other  ponds,  and  there  has  been  less  trouble 
from  the  growth  of  organism  in  this  source  than  in  any  of 
the  others.  The  pond  receives  practically  no  water  except 
from  its  own  watershed,  and  as  the  tributary  streams  enter 
the  upper  end  of  the  reservoir,  the  water  entering  the  pond 
has  the  benefit  of  long  storage. 

There  is  a considerable  leakage  from  the  pond  at  high 
water,  but  as  the  pond  has  been  nearly  empty  during  the 
entire  period  covered  by  the  investigations  there  has  been 
no  opportunity  to  measure  the  quantity  lost  in  this  way. 

Birch  Pond.  The  construction  of  Birch  pond  was  begun 
in  1873.  The  dam  constructed  at  that  time  raised  the 
water  about  13  feet  and  flooded  an  area  of  67  acres.  The 
area  flooded  was  covered  with  bushes  and  very  little  was 
done  in  preparation  for  flooding,  except  to  cut  and  remove 
the  brush.  The  dam  was  raised  in  1885  about  nine  feet. 
At  the  present  time  the  area  of  the  pond  is  82  acres.  The 
depth  at  nominal  high  water  is  19.4,  but  the  level  of  the 
water  is  frequently  raised  to  about  23  feet.  When  the 
water  is  at  a depth  of  19.4  feet,  the  storage  capacity  is 
381,100,000  gallons. 

Very  few  of  the  stumps  have  been  removed  from  the 
bottom  of  Birch  pond,  other  than  those  which  have  been 
loosened  naturally  from  time  to  time.  The  upper  end  of 


2 6 


the  pond  where  the  depth  of  water  is  least  contains  a great 
number  of  stumps  and  a deep  deposit  of  mud.  The  total 
area  of  the  bottom  covered  with  mud  is  60  acres,  or  73  per 
cent  of  the  whole  bottom.  The  mud  in  the  deepest  portion 
of  the  pond  is  very  deep.  In  the  shallow  area  at  the  upper 
end  the  depth  of  mud  varies  from  .5  of  a foot  to  4 feet. 

The  watershed  comprises  .68  of  a square  mile,  contain- 
ing a population  of  100,  or  about  147  persons  per  square 
mile.  Much  of  this  population  is  so  located  that  drainage 
from  the  houses  quickly  finds  its  way  into  the  pond.  The 
area  tributary  to  the  pond  from  the  north  is  within  the 
Lynn  Woods  and  free  from  habitations.  A highway  skirts 
the  west  shore  from  the  dam  to  the  upper  end,  and  all  of 
the  wash  from  this  street  and  from  several  side  streets  is 
discharged  directly  into  the  pond. 

A large  quantity  of  water  escapes  from  Birch  pond  at 
times  of  high  water  through  and  around  the  dam.  The 
quantity  lost  in  this  way  amounts  to  about  250,000  gallons 
when  the  pond  is  full. 

The  character  of  the  water  furnished  by  Birch  pond  for 
several  years  after  its  construction  was  such  that  it  was 
impossible  to  use  it  for  the  supply  of  the  city  during  the 
summer  months.  The  poor  quality  of  the  water  continued 
until  water  from  other  sources  was  turned  into  the  pond, 
thus  diminishing  the  time  during  which  the  water  remained 
in  contact  with  the  mud.  The  raising  of  the  dam  in  1883 
also  made  an  improvement  in  the  character  of  the  water 
stored.  The  character  of  the  water  during  recent  years 
has  depended  largely  upon  the  character  and  amount  of  the 
water  discharged  into  it  from  the  other  sources,  as  this 


27 


pond  receives  all  of  the  water  that  is  used  by  the  city,  from 
Walden  pond,  Hawkes  pond  and  the  Saugus  river.  The 
pond  is  even  now  subject  to  the  frequent  occurrence  of 
tastes  and  odors  due  to  the  growths  of  objectionable 
organisms  in  the  water.  The  water  also  shows  the 
effects  of  pollution.  * 

Walden  Pond.  This  reservoir  is  formed  by  a dam 
across  Penny  brook.  Originally  two  dams  were  constructed 
across  the  brook  about  4,300  feet  apart,  forming  two  ponds, 
the  level  of  the  upper  pond  being  about  6 feet  above  that 
of  the  lower.  The  lower  pond  was  known  as  Walden 
pond  and  the  upper  as  Glen  Lewis  pond.  All  of  the 
water  from  Glen  Lewis  pond  flowed  over  the  dam  or  through 
gates  into  Walden  pond.  These  two  reservoirs  were  con- 
structed in  1889  and  the  total  storage  capacity  was  523,- 
760,000  gallons.  The  area  flooded  by  the  construction  of 
the  dams  was  swampy,  and  the  water  of  the  old  Walden 
pond  was  never  of  such  a quality  as  to  make  it  suitable  for 
domestic  purposes. 

In  1902,  a new  dam  on  the  site  of  the  old  Walden  pond 
was  begun  and  was  completed  in  the  year  1905.  This 
dam  makes  the  depth  of  water  about  37  feet,  and  the  pond 
floods  the  old  Glen  Lewis  dam,  making  one  pond  when  the 
reservoir  is  full.  The  area  of  the  new  pond  is  240  acres, 
and  its  storage  capacity  1,754,200,000  gallons.  The  pond 
has  not  yet  been  filled  with  water. 

Some  efforts  have  been  made  to  improve  the  character 
of  the  bottom  of  Walden  pond  by  covering  the  mud  in  places, 
and  it  appears  that  about  125  acres  of  the  bottom  have  been 
improved  in  this  way.  The  remaining  portions  are  in 


28 


their  original  condition,  covered  to  a considerable  depth 
with  mud.  The  banks  of  the  pond  are  steep  and  there 
are  practically  no  areas  of  shallow  flowage,  so  that  the 
pond  would  make  an  ideal  reservoir  for  the  storage  of 
water,  were  it  not  for  the  mud  on  its  bottom. 

The  watershed  has  an  area  of  1.75  square  miles,  includ- 
ing the  pond,  almost  entirely  within  the  Lynn  Woods  reser- 
vation, and  containing  no  population.  There  are  numer- 
ous driveways  through  the  woods,  some  of  which  are  along 
the  shores  of  the  reservoir,  or  along  tributary  streams,  and 
the  wash  from  these  roads  finds  its  way  more  or  less  directly 
into  the  reservoir.  There  are  no  sources  of  pollution  on 
the  watershed  other  than  the  street  drainage,  and  what 
might  arise  from  the  use  of  the  shores  of  the  pond  by  the 
public  for  pleasure  purposes. 

Penny  brook,  the  chief  tributary  of  the  pond  drains  a 
great  area  of  swamp  and  the  water  entering  the  pond  from 
this  stream  is  highly  colored  and  contains  large  quantities 
of  organic  matter.  The  water  entering  other  portions  of 
the  main  pond  is  also  highly  colored,  but  that  coming  from 
the  Glen  Lewis  arm  of  the  pond  is  of  much  better  quality. 

The  character  of  the  water  of  Walden  pond  has  in 
recent  years  been  affected  by  the  pumping  into  it  of  a con- 
siderable quantity  of  water  from  Hawkes  pond  and  the 
Saugus  river.  The  pond  is  subject  to  growths  of  organisms 
which  make  the  water  very  objectionable  at  times  and  it  is 
probable  that  under  present  conditions  and  with  the  present 
character  of  the  water  entering  it,  these  growths  will  occur 
almost  every  season. 

Walden  pond  has  never  been  filled  since  the  dam  was 


29 


completed,  but  from  the  measurements  which  have  been 
made  of  the  leakage  from  the  reservoir  during  the  past 
season,  it  is  probable  that  the  leakage  from  this  pond  when 
full  will  amount  to  from  600,000  to  800,000  gallons  per 
day. 

It  was  believed  at  the  time  the  dam  was  rebuilt  that  it 
would  be  desirable  to  still  further  increase  the  height  of 
the  dam  and  the  dam  was  constructed  with  a view  to  add- 
ing 20  feet  to  its  height  at  some  future  time.  The  leakage 
is  so  great,  however,  that  indications  are  that  it  would  not 
be  found  practicable  to  do  this  without  practically  rebuild- 
ing the  entire  structure,  even  if  it  were  desirable  to  provide 
additional  storage. 

Hawkes  Pond.  Hawkes  pond  was  constructed  in  1896. 
Before  the  pond  was  filled,  all  of  the  mud  on  the  area  to 
be  flooded  was  either  removed  or  covered  with  gravel,  and 
the  bottom  now  seems  to  be  in  good  condition,  except  for 
a rank  growth  of  weeds  which  covered  it  during  the  time 
when  the  water  was  out  of  the  pond  in  the  past  summer. 
The  pond  has  a depth  of  25  feet  at  the  dam,  an  area  of 
75  acres,  and  a capacity  of  300,000,000  gallons. 

The  drainage  area  comprises  1.86  square  miles,  which 
contains  a population  of  500  or  about  269  persons  per 
square  mile.  Much  of  the  population  is  situated  close  to 
Hawkes  brook,  the  main  feeder  of  the  pond.  There  is 
no  sewerage  system  within  the  area,  and  the  sewage  is 
disposed  of  upon  the  ground  or  in  the  ground,  in  many  cases 
close  to  the  stream.  Some  cesspools  have  been  constructed 
near  the  brook  by  the  city  of  Lynn  to  prevent  the  direct 
entrance  of  sink  wastes  into  the  stream,  but  there  are 


30 


numerous  vaults  and  other  sources  of  pollution  not  far  from 
the  brook  or  its  tributaries.  There  are  several  large  pig- 
geries within  the  watershed  so  situated  that  drainage  from 
them  finds  its  way  in  some  cases  directly  into  the  brooks. 
A slaughter-house  is  situated  close  to  the  brook,  but  a por- 
tion of  the  drainage  is  conveyed  to  a cesspool  which  has 
been  recently  constructed  by  the  water  board.  A highway 
follows  one  shore  of  the  pond,  and  the  street  wash  for  a 
considerable  distance  finds  its  way  into  the  pond. 

The  water  of  the  brook,  besides  being  polluted,  is  at 
times  very  highly  colored  from  contact  with  the  organic 
matter  in  the  extensive  swamps  through  which  it  passes. 
The  total  area  of  the  swamps  within  the  watersheds  is 
about  134  acres.  The  water  at  times  of  dry  weather  is  of 
fairly  satisfactory  quality  in  this  respect,  and  by  suitable 
ditching  can  be  improved  at  other  times. 

This  pond  receives  water  from  the  Saugus  river,  so  that 
the  quality  of  the  water  of  the  pond  is  dependent  to  a con- 
siderable extent  upon  the  character  and  amount  of  the 
water  diverted  from  this  stream. 

Hawkes  pond  is  in  excellent  condition  for  the  storage  of 
water,  but  the  water  furnished  by  it  has  always  been  of 
unsatisfactory  quality,  probably  on  account  of  the  poor 
quality  of  the  water  entering  it,  both  from  its  own  water- 
shed and  from  the  Saugus  river. 

Saugus  River.  The  construction  of  a tunnel  and  canal 
from  Howlett’s  pond  on  the  Saugus  river  to  Birch  pond 
was  begun  in  1883  and  completed  in  1884.  This  canal 
intercepted  the  water  of  Hawkes  and  Penny  brooks,  two 
small  streams  upon  which  subsequently  the  reservoirs. 


3i 


known  as  Walden  and  Hawkes  ponds,  were  constructed. 

In  1897  and  1898,  a canal  was  constructed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  taking  water  from  the  Saugus  river  at  Montrose 
about  two  miles  above  Howlett’s  pond,  the  point  from 
which  water  had  been  previously  taken,  and  conveying  it 
to  Hawkes  pond. 

The  Saugus  river  at  Howlett’s  pond  was  foully  polluted 
by  sewage,  chiefly  from  the  town  of  Wakefield.  The 
point  in  Montrose  at  which  water  is  now  taken,  is  above 
the  brook  which  drains  the  principal  portion  of  Wakefield, 
but  the  river  above  Montrose  contains  within  its  watershed 
a portion  of  the  town  of  Wakefield  and  the  principal  por- 
tion of  Reading.  The  river  has  a watershed  of  10.58 
square  miles,  which  contains  a population  of  about  710  per 
square  mile.  The  town  of  Wakefield  is  provided  with  a 
sewerage  system,  so  that  much  of  the  sewage  is  carried 
out  of  the  watershed  and  cannot  find  its  way  into  the 
streams.  The  town  of  Reading  however,  has  no  sewerage 
system,  and  in  many  cases  the  sewage  finds  its  way 
directly  into  the  streams  which  are  tributary  to  the  Saugus 
river. 

The  river  flows  for  a long  distance  through  great  areas 
of  swamps  and  at  times  the  water  is  very  highly  colored 
from  contract  with  organic  matter. 

The  canal  from  the  river  to  Hawkes  pond  is  constructed 
at  such  an  elevation  that  it  is  necessary  to  raise  the  water 
of  the  river  in  order  to  have  it  flow  through  the  canal,  and 
when  this  is  done  a great  area  of  meadow  is  flooded  to  a 
slight  depth.  The  water  at  this  time  takes  up  great 
quantities  of  organic  matter,  so  that  whenever  the  water  is 


32 


diverted  into  Hawkes  pond,  the  character  of  the  water  is 
considerably  worse  than  it  is  under  ordinary  conditions. 


Summary  in  Regard  to  Physical  Condition  of  Present 

Sources. 

The  accompanying  table  gives  a summary  of  the  statis- 
tics in  regard  to  the  various  sources  of  supply  and  their 
watersheds. 


Breed’s 

Birch 

Walden 

Hawkes 

Saugus 

Pond. 

Pond. 

Pond. 

Pond. 

River. 

Elevation  of  pond  at  high  water  (ft.) 

67 -93 

68.70 

93*90 

77-85 

70.5 

Area  of  watershed  (sq.  m.) 

j.07 

0.68 

i-75 

1.86 

IO.58 

Area  of  pond  (acres) 

58-5 

82.O 

240. 

74.6 

Depth  of  water  at  dam  (ft.) 

19.1 

19.4 

37- 

25.0 

Average  depth 

13-7. 

H-3 

22.5 

H-5 

Storage  capacity  (million  gal.) 

263. 

381. 

1754- 

354- 

Area  of  mud  bottom  of  pond  (acres) 

45- 

60. 

75- 

0. 

Area  of  swamp  on  watershed  (acres) 

m. 

20. 

41- 

i34- 

Population  on  watershed 

50- 

100. 

0. 

500.  7500. 

Population  per  square  mile 

47- 

147. 

0. 

269. 

710. 

The  four  ponds  now  used 

by  the 

city  have  steep  banks 

and  little  shallow  flowage,  and  in  these  respects  are  unusu- 
ally well  adapted  for  the  storage  of  water.  The  watersheds 
of  Breed’s  and  Walden  ponds  are  practically  uninhabited, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  great  quantities  of  mud  in  the  bot- 
tom of  these  ponds  and  the  swamps  upon  their  watersheds 
they  would  furnish  an  excellent  surface  water,  although  it 
would  be  necessary  to  have  them  thoroughly  inspected  at 
all  times  to  prevent  local  pollution  from  the  large  number 
of  persons  who  frequent  the  Lynn  Woods. 

The  watershed  of  Birch  pond  contains  many  possible 
sources  of  pollution,  and  the  wash  from  a considerable 
length  of  highway  is  discharged  directly  into  the  reservoir. 


33 


The  bottom  of  the  reservoir  is  covered  with  mud,  so  that 
the  water  stored  in  it  is  certain  to  be  of  unsatisfactory  qual- 
ity at  times. 

Hawkes  pond  has  been  thoroughly  prepared  for  the  stor- 
age of  water,  and  is  in  excellent  condition  at  the  present 
time.  The  watershed,  however,  contains  large  areas  of 
swamp  and  a large  population  besides  several  large  pig- 
geries. This  pond  also  receives  considerable  wash  from 
streets.  The  water  entering  the  pond  from  its  own  water- 
shed is  of  very  unsatisfactory  quality. 

Saugus  river  is  polluted  by  the  population  upon  its  water- 
shed and  is  very  highly  colored.  Furthermore,  the  flood- 
ing of  large  areas  of  meadow  whenever  the  water  is 
diverted  adds  to  the  objectionable  character  of  the  water. 

Quality  of  Water  of  Present  Sources. 

Frequent  analyses  of  the  different  sources  of  supply  have 
been  made  since  1887  by  the  State  Board  of  Health,  and 
yearly  averages  of  the  results  are  given  in  the  accompany- 
ing tables. 

A table  is  also  presented  giving  the  total  number  of 
microscopical  organisms  in  the  water  of  each  source.  The 
chief  effect  of  the  microscopic  organisms  is  to  give  tastes 
and  odors  to  the  water,  and  a table  is  presented  giving  the 
odor  as  found  by  the  State  Board  of  Health  of  the  samples 
of  water  which  have  been  collected  during  1907. 

As  previously  stated,  the  water  entering  the  reservoirs 
from  their  own  watersheds  is  in  many  cases  of  poor 
quality.  During  the  past  fall  samples  of  water  were  col- 
lected from  the  principal  tributary  streams  and  a determin- 


34 


ation  was  made  of  the  color  and  of  the  chlorine  in  each 
of  these  tributaries,  the  chlorine  giving  in  a general  way 
the  amount  of  pollution  which  the  stream  received.  The 
results  of  these  investigations  are  given  graphically  in  two 
diagrams  appended. 

Two  series  of  samples  have  been  collected  for  bacterial 
examination  in  November,  1907,  and  these  samples  have 
been  examined  to  determine  the  number  of  bacteria  present 
in  the  water  and  the  presence  of  sewage  bacteria.  The 
results  of  these  examinations  are  also  appended. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  tables  of  analyses  that  the 
quality  of  water  entering  the  ponds  from  their  own  water- 
sheds is  very  poor,  being  in  most  cases  highly  colored, 
and  containing  large  quantities  of  organic  matter,  and  in 
many  cases  being  polluted.  The  water  is  ordinarily  much 
improved  by  long  storage  which  it  gets  in  the  ponds,  but 
at  frequent  intervals,  growths  of  microscopic  organisms 
occur  in  the  ponds,  giving  the  water  a disagreeable  or 
even  offensive  odor. 

The  water  of  Walden  pond  after  a period  of  about  five 
months  had  elapsed  since  water  from  the  Saugus  river  had 
been  discharged  into  it,  was  bacterially  very  pure  and  con- 
tained no  sewage  bacilli.  Breed’s  pond  had  been  emptied 
during  the  summer,  and  a large  number  of  men  had  been 
working  in  the  pond,  so  that  the  unfavorable  bacterial 
results  obtained  here  were  to  be  expected.  The  water  of 
Hawkes  pond  and  Birch  pond  contained  large  numbers  of 
bacteria,  including  large  numbers  of  sewage  bacilli. 

The  water  of  the  Saugus  river  is  of  poor  quality  accord- 
ing to  the  analyses,  both  on  account  of  the  quantity  of 
organic  matter  and  the  high  color,  and  on  account  of  the 
evidences  of  sewage  pollution. 


Averages  by  Years  of  Chemical  Examinations  of  Water  from  Breed’s  Pond. 

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Averages  by  Years  of  Chemical  Examinations  of  Water  from  Birch  Pond. 

[parts  per  100,000] 


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Averages  by  Years  of  Chemical  Examinations  of  Water  from  Walden  Pond. 

[parts  PER  100,000. J 


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Averages  by  Years  of  Chemical  Examinations  of  Water  from  the  Saugus  River  at  Montrose 


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William  S.  Johnson, 

Civil  Engineer, 

10!  Tremont  St..  Boston  Mass. 


Chlorine  in  Water  in  Ponds  and  Their  Tributaries 
November  26,1907. 


42 


Odors  in  Samples  of  Water  of  Present  Sources  Collected  in  1907. 


Date. 

Breed’s  Pond. 

Birch  Pond. 

Jan.  25. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Jan.  29. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Feb.  12. 

Faintly  vegetable  and 
unpleasant. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Mar.  12. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable, 
and  unpleasant. 

Apl.  11. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

May  14. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Very  faintly 
Vegetable. 

June  11. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable 
and  unpleasant. 

July  9- 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Aug.  8. 

Faintly  unpleasant, 
and  vegetable. 

Sept.  17. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Oct.  18. 

Very  faintly  vegetable. 

Very  faintly 
vegetable. 

Oct.  29. 

Very  faintly  unpleasant 

Faintly  unpleasant 

and  fishy. 

and  fishy. 

Nov.  26. 

Faintly  unpleasant 

Faintly  unpleasant 

and  fishy. 

and  fishy. 

Dec.  16. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  unpleasant 
and  fishy. 

43 


Odors  in  Samples  of  Water  of  Present  Sources  Collected  in  1907. 


Date. 

Walden  Pond. 

Hawkes  Pond. 

Jan.  25. 

Distinctly  vegetable 
and  faintly  unpleasant. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Jan.  29. 

Very  faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Feb.  12. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable 
and  unpleasant. 

Mar.  12. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Distinctly  vege- 
table and  musty. 

Apr.  11. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable 
and  earthy. 

May  14. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Dis.  vegetable. 

June  11. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable 
and  unpleasant. 

July  !• 

Faintly  veg.  and  sweetish. 

July  9- 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Aug.  8. 

Distinctly  unpleas- 

ant and  vegetable. 

Aug.  21. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Aug.  26. 

Dis.  vegetable  and 
faintly  musty. 

Sept.  17. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Faintly  unpleas’t. 

O 

0 

w 

0° 

Faintly  vegetable 

Very  faintly  vege- 

and earthy 

table. 

Oct.  29. 

Faintly  unpleasant 

Faintly  unpleas- 

and fishy. 

ant. 

Nov.  7. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Nov.  26. 

Faintly  unpleasant 

Very  faintly  un- 

and fishy. 

pleasant. 

Dec.  16. 

Faintly  unpleasant 
and  fishy. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

44 


Odors  in  Samples  of  Water  of  Present  Sources  Collected  in  1907. 


Date. 

Saugus  River. 

Jan.  25. 

Distinctly  vegetable  and  faintly  musty. 

Feb.  12. 

Distinctly  musty  and  unpleasant. 

Mar.  12. 

Decidedly  musty  and  disagreeable. 

Apr.  11. 

Distinctly  vegetable  and  earthy. 

May  14. 

Distinctly  vegetable  and  earthy. 

June  11. 

Faintly  vegetable  and  earthy. 

July  9. 

Distinctly  vegetable. 

Aug.  26. 

Distinctly  vegetable  and  unpleasant. 

Sept.  17. 

Distinctly  vegetable  and  musty. 

Oct.  29. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Nov.  7. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

Nov.  26. 

Faintly  vegetable. 

45 


Bacterial  Examination  of  Water  from  the  Sources  of 
Water  Supply  of  the  City  of  Lynn  and  from 
Other  Sources  in  the  Vicinity.  Col= 
lected  October  29-30,  1907. 

B.  Coli 


Sources. 

Bacteria 
Per  cubic 

in  one 
cu.  centi- 

in 100 
cu.  centi- 

Centimeter. 

meter. 

meters. 

Breed’s  pond 

80 

O 

pr. 

Birch  pond 

24 

O 

0 

Walden  pond 

26. 

O 

0 

Hawkes  pond 

1400 

O 

pr. 

Saugus  river  at  Montrose 
Saugus  river  above  Quanna- 

5700 

O 

pr. 

powitt  lake 

1600 

O 

pr. 

Brook  at  Salem  street,  Reading 

0 

0 

00 

M 

O 

pr. 

Brook  at  Eaton  street,  Reading 
Brook  at  Wakefield  road, 

28500 

3700 

Reading 

Head  of  Saugus  river  below 

9700 

I9O 

Prescott  street,  Reading 

3300 

pr. 

pr. 

Martin’s  pond,  North  Reading* 
Martin’s  brook  at  turnpike, 

300 

0 

pr. 

North  Reading* 

Ipswich  river  at  turnpike, 

IOO 

0 

pr. 

North  Reading* 

1500 

0 

pr. 

Quannapowitt  lake  at  Wakefield  700 

0 

pr. 

♦These  samples  contained  many  bacteria  producing  acid  fermentation  of  lactose  at40°c. 


46 


Bacterial  Examination  of  Water  from  the  Sources  of 
Water  Supply  of  the  city  of  Lynn  and  from  other 
Sources  in  the  Vicinity.  Collected 
November  7=8,  1907. 

B.  Coli 

Bacteria  in  one  in  ico 


Source. 

per  cubic 
centimeter. 

. cu.  centi- 
meter. 

cu.  centi- 
meters. 

Outlet  Hawkes  pond 

8o 

O 

s 

Hawkes  pond  inlet 

i3°o 

pr. 

pr. 

Outlet  of  Quannapowitt  lake 

5800 

*34 

Saugus  river  canal 

l6o 

0 

pr. 

Saugus  river  at  Wakefield  road 

2 200 

0 

pr. 

Brook  at  Salem  street 

3500 

0 

s 

Brook  at  Wakefield  road 

2600 

0 

pr. 

Martin’s  pond  at  outlet 

2600 

0 

s 

Martin’s  brook  at  turnpike* 

4900 

0 

pr. 

Ipswich  river  at  turnpike* 

2000 

0 

pr. 

Brook  from  laundry 

6500 

240 

* Sample  contains  large  numbers  of  bacteria  producing  acid  fermentation  of  lactose  at 
40°  c. 

s = Fermenting  bacteria  overgrown  by  sewage  streptoccus. 


In  general  it  may  be  said  that  the  water  flowing  in  the 
various  streams  which  are  used  by  the  city  of  Lynn  is  in 
its  natural  state  of  exceedingly  poor  quality,  having  an 
excessive  color  and  containing  an  enormous  quantity  of 
organic  matter  in  all  cases,  and  in  many  cases  being 
highly  polluted.  The  storage  in  the  ponds,  however, 
serves  to  greatly  improve  the  condition  of  the  water, 
especially  in  respect  to  color  and  to  the  effect  of  pollution, 
improving  the  appearance  of  the  water  and  reducing  very 


47 


greatly  the  danger  to  those  using  it  for  domestic  purposes. 

Such  water  when  stored  in  uncleaned  reservoirs,  how- 
ever, is  always  subject  to  growths  of  organisms,  which 
impart  to  it  offensive  tastes  and  odors. 


Capacity  of  the  Present  Sources. 

By  "capacity”  of  the  present  sources  of  supply  is  meant 
the  quantity  of  water  which  they  would  furnish  every  day 
throughout  the  dryest  season.  The  capacity  depends  upon 
the  rainfall',  the  area  of  the  watershed,  the  proportion  of 
the  rainfall  which  enters  the  reservoirs,  the  evaporation 
from  the  water  surfaces  and  the  quantity  of  water  stored 
in  the  reservoirs  and  available  for  use  during  a dry  time. 

The  best  indication  available  as  to  the  yield  of  the 
watersheds  is  obtained  from  the  records  of  flow  of  the  Sud- 
bury river,  a stream  which  has  been  carefully  measured 
for  many  years.  Using  these  records  as  a basis  and 
applying  the  necessary  corrections  for  the  evaporation 
from  the  water  surfaces  and  other  conditions,  it  would 
appear  that  the  yield  of  the  present  ponds  alone  in  a very 
dry  year  would  amount  to  4,900,000  gallons  per  day. 
With  the  Saugus  river  added,  the  yield  would  be  11,000,- 
000  gallons  per  day,  provided  all  of  the  water  flowing  in 
the  Saugus  river  could  be  made  available.  With  the 
limited  capacity  of  the  existing  works  for  obtaining  water 
from  the  Saugus  river  the  yield  would  be  slightly  less  than 
this  amount. 

If  the  town  of  Wakefield  should  exercise  its  right  to  take 
water  from  Lake  Quannapowitt  the  yield  of  the  present 


48 


sources  and  the  Saugus  river  would  be  reduced  by  the 
amount  taken  for  the  supply  of  Wakefield. 

The  total  yield  of  the  sources  is  not  available  for  the 
supply  of  the  city  on  account  of  the  great  leakage  through 
the  dams  which  will  probably  average  nearly  1,000,000 
gallons  per  day. 

Population. 

In  considering  the  probable  future  population  and  the 
requirements  as  to  the  quantity  of  water  in  the  future,  the 
city  of  Lynn  and  the  town  of  Saugus  have  been  considered 
together,  since  it  seems  probable  that  it  would  be  for  the 
best  interests  of  both  of  these  places  to  take  water  from  the 
same  sources  for  an  indefinite  time  in  the  future ; and  fur- 
thermore, it  is  possible  that  the  town  of  Saugus  may  at  some 
time  be  annexed  to  the  city  of  Lynn.  It  is  futile  to  attempt 
to  prophesy  as  to  the  future  growth  of  population  in  a city 
like  Lynn,  since  so  much  depends  upon  the  changes  in 
business  conditions  and  other  circumstances  which  cannot 
possibly  be  foretold.  It  seems  likely,  however,  that  if  the 
growth  of  Massachusetts  continues,  the  growth  of  Lynn 
will  be  rapid  on  account  of  its  proximity  to  Boston,  and  its 
excellent  railroad  facilities  as  well  as  the  substantial  char- 
acter of  the  industries  which  furnish  employment  for  a large 
part  of  the  population. 

In  order  to  make  an  intelligent  estimate  of  the  future  pop- 
ulation, a study  has  been  made  of  the  growth  of  population 
in  the  past  both  in  the  city  of  Lynn  and  in  other  cities 
which  now  have  a larger  population  than  that  of  Lynn. 
The  population  of  Lynn  and  Saugus  from  i860  to  1905  is 
given  in  the  following  table. 


2200CO 


Year 


5o 


Population  of  Lynn  and  Saugus  for  each  Census  Year 
from  1860  to  1905. 


Year. 

Lynn. 

Saugus. 

Lynn  and  Saugus. 

i860 

19,083 

2,024 

21,107 

1865 

20,747 

2,006 

22,753 

187O 

28,233 

2,247 

30,480 

1875 

32,600 

2,578 

35 , 1 78 

1880 

38,274 

2,625 

40,899 

1885 

45,867 

2,855 

48,722 

189O 

55,727 

3,673 

59,400 

1895 

62,354 

4,497 

66,851 

1900 

68,513 

5,084 

73,597 

I9°S 

77,042 

6,253 

83,295 

In  order  to  compare  the  growth  of  Lynn  and  Saugus 
with  that  of  other  large  cities,  the  population  from  i860  to 
1905  has  been  plotted  for  each  census  year,  and  the  popu- 
lation of  other  cities  of  somewhat  similar  character  to  Lynn, 
but  which  now  have  a larger  population,  has  been  plotted 
in  such  a way  as  to  indicate  what  the  growth  of  Lynn  will 
be  if  the  growth  of  this  city  in  the  future  is  as  rapid  as 
the  growth  of  these  other  cities  has  been  since  they  became 
as  large  as  Lynn  now  is.  For  example,  the  city  of  Lowell 
reached  the  present  population  of  the- city  of  Lynn  about 
eleven  years  ago.  If  the  growth  of  Lynn  and  Saugus  dur- 
ing the  next  eleven  years  is  the  same  as  the  growth  of 
Lowell  has  been  for  the  past  eleven  years,  since  it  became 
as  large  as  Lynn  now  is,  the  population  of  Lynn  in  1916 
will  be  about  95,000.  It  will  be  seen  from  these  diagrams, 
however,  that  the  growth  of  Lowell  previous  to  the  time 
when  it  reached  the  present  population  of  Lynn  was  more 


5i 


rapid  than  the  growth  of  Lynn  has  been.  The  city  of 
Worcester  had  a population  equal  to  the  present  population 
of  Lynn  and  Saugus  about  fifteen  years  ago,  and  it  has 
now  reached  a population  of  nearly  130,000.  Should 
Lynn  grow  as  rapidly  as  Worcester  has  since  attaining  the 
present  population  of  Lynn,  it  will  reach  a population  of 
130,000  in  1920.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  past  growth 
of  Lynn  has  been  slower  than  that  of  any  of  the  other 
cities  on  the  diagram,  with  the  exception  of  New  Haven, 
although  the  increase  has  been  very  steady. 

From  a study  of  the  diagram,  together  with  a consider- 
ation of  the  different  conditions  in  the  different  places,  a 
curve  has  been  drawn  which  may  be  taken  to  represent  the 
probable  future  population  of  Lynn  and  Saugus.  Judging 
from  this  curve,  the  following  will  be  the  population  by 
five-year  periods  from  1910  to  1945* 

Estimated  Future  Population  of  Lynn  and  Saugus. 


Year. 

Estimated  Population. 

I9IO 

96,000 

I9IS 

109,500 

1920 

124,000 

J925 

139, OOO 

r93° 

155,000 

1935 

171,000 

194° 

188,000 

Consumption  of  Water. 

The  consumption  of  water  in  Lynn  is  much  less  in  pro- 
portion to  the  population  than  in  many  of  the  other  large 
cities  of  the  country,  due  probably  to  the  care  which  is 


52 


exercised  in  preventing  wastes  through  leaks  and  to  the 
general  introduction  of  meters.  The  consumption  of  water 
during  the  years  for  which  records  are  available,  has  been 
as  follows : 


Consumption  of  Water  and  Per  Cent  Metered  Services 
in  Lynn  and  Saugus,  1875  to  1906. 


Population  of  Lynn 

Average  Daily 
Consumption 

Daily  Consump- 
tion Per  Person 

Per  Cent. 
Metered 

Year. 

and  Saugus. 

(Gallons). 

(Gallons). 

Services. 

i875 

*32,600 

1,291,000 

4° 

3 

1876 

*33,734 

1,079,000 

32 

3 

•8  77 

*34,869 

T ,102,000 

32 

3 

1878 

38,610 

1,144,000 

1,265,000 

3° 

3 

i879 

39.754 

32 

3 

1880 

40,899 

!,235, 000 

3° 

3 

l88l 

42,464 

1,280,000 

3° 

3 

l882 

44,029 

i,5 1 1 ,oo° 

1,558,000 

34 

3 

1883 

45.594 

34 

3 

1884 

47,r59 

!, 739, 000 

37 

3 

1885 

48,722 

1,921,000 

39 

3 

1886 

50,858 

2,1 16,000 

42 

3 

1887 

5 2.994 

2, 379, ooo 

45 

3 

l888 

55  > I3° 

2, 475, ooo 

45 

3 

1889 

57. 266 

2. 450. 000 

2.657.000 

43 

4 

189O 

59,400 

45 

4 

189I 

' 60,890 

3,i31,' 000 

31 

4 

1892 

62,380 

3, 549, ooo 

57 

5 

1893 

63,870 

3, 744, ooo 

59 

6 

i894 

65, 36° 

4.020.000 

4.360.000 

62 

8 

i895 

66,851 

65 

10 

1896 

68,200 

69,549 

47539.°°° 

66 

13 

1897 

4.642.000 

4.746.000 

66 

15 

1898 

70,899 

67 

*7 

1899 

72,247 

5,379,°°° 

74 

l9 

1900 

73,597 

4.680.000 

4.506.000 

64 

20 

1901 

75,537 

60 

23 

1902 

77,476 

4,684,000 

60 

25 

I9°3 

79,416 

5, 1 38, ooo 

65 

27 

I9°4 

81,355 

83,295 

5,333,00° 

66 

28 

i9°5 

4,924,000 

59 

3° 

1906 

*Lynn  only. 

85,235 

5*133»°oo 

60 

33 

53 


For  purposes  of  eomparison  a table  is  presented  giving 
the  average  rate  of  consumption  per  person  in  all  of  those 
cities  having  a population  of  more  than  50,000  where 
records  could  be  obtained.  The  figures  in  this  table  are 
taken  from  a paper  in  the  Journal  of  the  New  England 
Water  Works  Association. 

Average  Daily  Consumption  of  Water  and  Percentage  of 
Metered  Services  in  1905  in  Cities  Having  a Popu- 
lation of  More  than  50,000. 

Consumption 
Per  cent  Gallons 


City. 

Population 

Metered 

Services 

Per  person 
p»r  day 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

400,428 

3 

324 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

57,875 

2 

3°9 

Troy,  .... 

60,500 

4 

248 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

i)4I7)°63 

1 

23° 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

93> 765 

!5 

21  I 

Bridgeport,  Conn.  . 

82,061 

5 

2IO 

Pittsburg,  Pa. 

363,116 

0 

2IO 

Detroit,  Mich. 

325>6i4 

9 

l88 

Erie,  Pa. 

58,783 

2 

179 

Harrisburg,  Pa. 

55*557 

73 

171 

New  Haven,  Conn. 

121,391 

3 

l68 

Camden,  N.  J. 

84,746 

3 

155 

Boston,  Mass. 

595, 38° 

5 

I5I 

Richmond,  Va. 

86,881 

44 

150 

Nashville,  Tenn. 

282,213 

52 

00 

-r 

Cleveland,  Ohio. 

44L974 

68 

x37 

Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

34°>399 

12 

I3° 

San  Antonio,  Tex. 

61,145 

10 

132 

Reading,  Pa. 

89,  hi 

7 

128 

Norfolk,  Va. 

52?5°° 

0 

I25 

Evansville,  Ind. 

63,132 

0 

I25 

Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

101,21 1 

29 

i23 

Los  Angeles,  Cal.  . 

1 28,521 

3i 

120 

Newark,  N.  J. 

278,190 

44 

1 17 

Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

55,879 

99 

IX5 

54 


City. 

Hoboken,  N.  J. 
Kansas  City,  Kans. 
Columbus,  Ohio. 
Omaha,  Neb. 
Pawtucket,  R.  I. 
Wilmington,  Del. 
Seattle,  Wash. 
Memphis,  Tenn. 
San  Francisco,  Cal. 
New  Bedford,  Mass 
Toronto,  Canada. 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Cambridge,  Mass. 
Milwaukee,  Wis. 
Somerville,  Mass. 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Paterson,  N.  J. 
Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Louisville,  Ky. 
Duluth,  Minn. 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Toledo,  Ohio 
Worcester,  Mass. 
Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Dayton,  Ohio 
Providence,  R.  I. 
Hartford,  Conn. 
Atlanta,  Ga. 

Utica,  N.  Y.  . 
Lynn  and  Saugus 
Lowell,  Mass. 

St.  Joseph,  Mo. 
Charleston,  S.  C. 

St.  Paul,  Minn. 
Manchester,  N.  H. 
Fall  River,  Mass. 
Lawrence,  Mass. 


Population. 

67,222 

57,969 

144,265 

83,607 

79,40° 

84,046 

99,588 

121,232 

364,674 

74,362 

270,000 

636,972 

97,434 

325,735 

69,272 
179,064 
118,583 
196,028 
226,^31 
62,896 
. 221,708 

I57^OI5 
128,135 
179,27° 

97,389 
212,823 
93^60 
102,041 
. 62,^69 

83,295 
94,889 
128,306 

56,233 

178,020 

63,417 

102,762 

70,050 


Per  cent 
Metered 
Services. 

Consumption 

Gallons 

Per  person 
per  day. 

69 

“5 

45 

IJ3 

76 

1 10 

59 

1 10 

81 

104 

21 

102 

12 

100 

20 

100 

21 

96 

23 

95 

4 

93 

7 

92 

l9 

92 

80 

91 

l9 

89 

41 

89 

37 

87 

10 

82 

8 

81 

41 

77 

47 

76 

70 

75 

95 

75 

38 

73 

70 

70 

86 

68 

98 

66 

100 

65 

98 

59 

30 

59 

69 

58 

20 

58 

2 

57 

38 

56 

72 

52 

97 

42 

88 

43 

55 


The  quantity  of  water  used  legitimately  for  domestic 
purposes  is  everywhere  increasing  at  a rapid  rate,  due  both 
to  the  more  general  use  of  plumbing  fixtures  in  houses, 
even  of  the  most  inexpensive  class,  and  the  increasing 
quantity  of  water  required  by  modern  fixtures.  While,  by 
an  extension  of  the  use  of  meters  in  Lynn,  some  of  the 
sources  of  waste  now  in  existence  will  be  removed  and  any 
excessive  consumption  due  to  waste  will  undoubtedly  be 
prevented,  the  comparatively  low  consumption  at  the  pres- 
ent time  indicates  that  the  sources  of  waste  now  in  exis- 
tence are  not  large  and  the  increase  in  the  legitimate  use 
of  water  is  likely  to  be  more  rapid  than  any  decrease  due 
to  the  further  prevention  of  waste. 

It  is  impossible  to  forecast  the  growth  of  population  of 
the  city,  and  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  foretell  the  quantity 
of  water  which  will  be  used,  which  depends  not  alone  on 
the  population  but  on  a variety  of  other  conditions.  For 
purposes  of  this  report,  I have  assumed  that  the  rate  of 
increase  in  the  average  daily  consumption  will  be  one 
gallon  per  person  each  year,  making  the  average  con- 
sumption of  water  in  1940,  94  gallons  per  person  per  day, 
which,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  table,  is  less 
than  the  present  consumption  of  water  in  more  than  half  of 
the  cities  included  in  the  table. 

The  following  table  gives  the  estimated  future  con- 
sumption of  water  in  Lynn  and  Saugus,  based  upon  the 
estimated  population  previously  given  and  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  the  average  daily  consumption  per  person  will 
increase  one  gallon  each  year. 


56 


Estimated  Future  Consumption  of  Water  in  Lynn 
and  Saugus. 


Year. 

Estimated 

Population. 

I9IO. 

96,000 

I9I5 

109,500 

1920 

I 24,000 

l925 

139,000 

i93° 

155,000 

J935 

17^5°° 

I94° 

188,500 

Estimated 
Consumption 
Per  person. 
(Gallons) 

Estimated 

Daily 

Consumption 

(Gallons) 

64 

6,144,000 

69 

7>555>000 

74 

9,176,000 

79 

10,981,000 

84 

13,020,000 

89 

I 5, 263, 000 

94 

1*1,719,000 

Improvement  of  the  Present  Sources  of  Supply. 

The  four  ponds  which  constitute  the  present  sources  of 
supply  can  be  improved  so  as  to  furnish  water  which  will 
be  of  fair  quality  and  as  safe  as  any  surface  water  source 
in  the  midst  of  a large  population  can  be.j^In  order  to 
secure  the  best  water  possible  from  the  ponds  without  filtra- 
tion it  will  be  necessary  to  thoroughly  drain  the  principal 
swamps  upon  their  watersheds,  remove  or  cover  with  gravel 
the  mud  and  other  organic  matter  upon  the  bottoms  of  the 
various  ponds,  construct  sewers  and  drains  to  remove  the 
sewage  and  street  wash  from  the  most  thickly  settled  por- 
tions of  the  watersheds,  construct  water-tight  vaults  where 
vaults  are  necessarily  situated  within  a short  distance  of 
any  stream  or  other  body  of  water  tributary  to  the  sources 
of  supply,  purchase  land  where.the  most  dangerous  sources 
of  pollution  exist,  and  maintain  a constant  and  thorough 
inspection  of  the  ponds  and  their  watersheds  by  capable 
and  trustworthy  men. 


57 


The  water  flowing  in  the  Saugus  river  is  of  such  poor  _ 
quality  for  so  many  reasons  that  it  is  not  feasible  to  make 
good  water  of  it,  except  by  filtration  or  storage,  although 
its  quality  can  be  much  improved  by  the  ditching  of  swamps, 
the  prevention  of  the  direct  discharge  of  sewage  into  its 
tributary  streams  and  by  the  sanitary  control  of  the  water- 


shed. 


The  Drainage  of  Swamps.  The  feasibility  of  draining 
the  principal  swamps  upon  the  watersheds  of  the  various 
ponds  has  been  carefully  investigated.  There  are  upon 
the  watersheds  of  the  four  ponds  about  306  acres  of 
swamps  distributed  as  follows  : 


Acres, 

III 

20 


Breed’s  pond 
Birch  pond  . 
Walden  pond 
Hawkes  pond 


41 

*34 


Total  ...*..  306 

Very  little  has  been  done  toward  draining  these  swamps, 
other  than  to  deepen  the  channels  of  the  streams  which 
flow  through  them.  While  this  has  probably  kept  portions 
of  the  swamps  from  remaining  saturated  with  water  and 
has  thus  reduced  the  quantity  of  organic  matter  taken  up, 
it  has  not  provided  for  the  prompt  removal  of  water  flowing 
toward  the  swamp  from  the  hard  land  before  it  has  an 
opportunity  to  come  in  contact  with  the  organic  matter. 
It  appears  to  be  feasible  in  every  case  at  a reasonable 
expense  to  thoroughly  drain  the  swamps  so  that  the  water 
flowing  from  the  high  land  toward  the  swamp  can  be 


quickly  taken  away  by  the  stream  without  passing  over 
and  through  a great  mass  of  organic  material.  To  drain 
the  swamps  will  require  in  each  case  the  construction  of  a 
main  channel  of  sufficient  capacity  and  depth  to  quickly 
remove  all  of  the  water  brought  to  it.  From  this  ditch, 
branch  ditches  should  be  constructed  from  ioo  to  200  feet 
apart,  extending  in  either  direction  to  the  edge  of  the 
swamp.  In  most  cases  the  fall  of  the  stream  at  the  outlet 
of  the  swamp  is  so  rapid  that  very  little  excavation  of  the 
channel  below  the  swamp  will  be  required.  To  thoroughly 
drain  the  swamps  upon  the  watersheds  of  the  ponds  will 
require  the  construction  of  about  18  1-2  miles  of  ditches  at 
an  estimated  cost  of  about  $7,000.  This  does  not  include 
land  damages,  but  much  of  the  swamp  area  is  now  owned 
by  the  city  and  the  remaining  areas  would  be  greatly  bene- 
fited by  thorough  drainage,  so  that  there  should  be  very 
little  or  no  expense  on  this  account. 

The  area  of  swamps  upon  the  watersheds  of  each  of  the 
ponds  and  the  cost  of  draining  them  are  as  follows : 


Area  of  Swamp. 

Cost  of  Draining. 

Breed’s  pond,  111  acres 

$2,540 

Birch  pond,  20  “ 

. 460 

Walden  pond,  41  “ 

940 

Hawkes  pond,  134  “ 

3,06° 

$7,000 

Imfrove7nent  of  Bottoms  of  Ponds. 

The  mud  and 

organic  matter  at  the  bottom  of  Hawkes  pond  was  removed 
or  covered  at  the  time  the  reservoir  was  constructed. 
This  work  was  apparently  quite  thoroughly  done  and  the 


59 


bottom  now  seems  to  be  in  good  condition.  At  times  when 
the  water  in  the  pond  has  been  drawn  to  a low  level  there 
has  been  a rank  growth  of  weeds  over  the  bottom  causing 
an  accumulation  of  organic  matter,  which  will  tend  to 
counteract  the  good  effects  of  the  original  cleaning  of  the 
bottom. 

Portions  of  the  bottom  of  Walden  pond  have  been 
improved,  this  work  being  done  at  different  times  when 
the  water  has  been  drawn  out  of  the  pond.  From  the 
reports  of  the  Water  Board  it  appears  that  the  total  area 
from  which  the  mud  has  either  been  removed  or  covered 
amounts  to  about  125  acres,  or  52  per  cent  of  the  total  area 
of  the  pond. 

Unfortunately,  if  the  present  sources  of  supply  are  to  be 
maintained  without  material  additions,  it  would  be  unsafe 
to  draw  the  water  from  Walden  pond  for  a sufficient 
length  of  time  to  permit  of  cleaning  of  the  bottom,  without 
causing  a shortage  of  water.  It  will  be  possible,  however, 
to  improve  the  bottom  in  the  shallower  portions  of  the  pond 
and  it  is  here  that  such  work  is  of  the  most  importance. 
The  existence  of  great  deposits  of  organic  matter  in  the 
deeper  places,  however,  will  cause  much  trouble  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  due  to  the  "fermentation”  of  the  water. 
It  is  probable  that  about  seventy-five  acres  of  the  bottom 
of  Walden  pond  can  be  improved  in  addition  to  that 
already  improved,  leaving  about  17  per  cent  of  the  area 
which  can  not  well  be  reached.  The  work  would  have  to 
be  done  during  the  latter  part  of  the  season  after  the  water 
has  been  drawn  down  and  when  the  other  ponds  are  full. 
It  will  undoubtedly  be  cheaper  in  most  cases  to  cover  the 


6o 


mud  with  material  taken  from  the  shore  than  to  attempt  to 
remove  it,  and  the  estimated  cost  of  doing  this  work  in 
Walden  pond  is  $35,000. 

When  Birch  pond  was  originally  constructed,  very  little 
was  done  to  the  bottom  other  than  cutting  some  of  the 
brush.  Some  of  the  stumps  have  been  removed,  but  the 
original  mud  remains  upon  the  bottom,  and  many  of  the 
stumps  are  still  standing.  A survey  of  the  pond  has  been 
made  and  soundings  of  the  mud  have  been  taken.  Of  the 
total  area  of  the  bottom  about  60  acres,  or  75  per  cent, 
should  be  improved.  Gravel  can  be  obtained  along  the 
shores  of  the  pond  for  covering  the  mud,  and  the  total  cost 
of  covering  will  probably  be  about  $24,000.  It  will  not 
be  feasible  to  do  this  work,  unless  provision  is  made  for 
drawing  water  for  the  supply  of  the  city  from  the  other 
ponds,  as  under  present  conditions  water  must  be  drawn 
from  Birch  pond  whenever  the  pumps  are  in  operation. 

The  bottom  of  Breed’s  pond  until  1907  remained  practic- 
ally in  its  original  condition.  At  that  time  when  the  water 
was  drawn  to  a low  level,  two  small  areas  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  pond  where  the  water  is  shallowest  were  covered  with 
gravel  to  a depth  of  from  six  inches  to  one  foot.  The  total 
area  improved  in  this  manner  was  about  five  acres.  The 
mud  in  many  portions  of  Breed’s  pond  is  from  a foot  to  six 
feet  in  depth,  and  the  total  area  of  mud  is  forty-five  acres. 
To  cover  this  mud  where  it  is  deepest  will  require  the 
thorough  draining  and  drying  up  of  the  bottom  of  the  pond, 
and  it  is  possible  that  in  places  it  may  be  necessary  to  place 
a platform  of  some  kind  to  hold  the  gravel  and  keep  it  from 
sinking  into  the  mud.  Gravel  can  be  obtained  at  convenient 


6 1 


places  along  the  shore  of  the  pond,  so  that  the  haul  will 
not  be  great,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  whole  mud  area  of 
the  pond  can  be  covered  with  gravel  at  a cost  of  about 
$16,000. 

The  total  cost  of  improving  the  bottoms  of  the  ponds 
may  be  summarized  as  follows  : 


Area  of  Mud. 
Acres. 

Estimated  cost 
of  covering. 

Breed’s  pond 

• 45  • 

. $16,000 

Birch  pond 

. 60  . 

. 24,000 

Walden  pond 

• 75  • 

35, OOO 

Total, 

"“'4 

0 

O 

0 

Protection  of  Sources  of  Supply  fro?n  Pollution.  All 
of  the  ponds  are  so  situated  that  their  shores  are  likely 
to  be  resorted  to  very  largely ; and  in  the  case  of 
Breed’s  and  Walden  ponds,  the  public  has  been  encouraged 
to  visit  the  ponds  by  the  construction  of  paths  and  roads 
along  the  shores  and  along  the  tributary  streams.  Much 
travelled  highways  also  skirt  the  shores  of  Birch  and 
Breed’s  ponds.  The  watershed  of  Walden  pond  lies  almost 
entirely  within  the  Lynn  Woods  reservation  and  contains  no 
population,  so  that  the  only  danger  of  the  direct  pollution 
of  this  source  is  from  the  use  of  the  Lynn  Woods  for 
pleasure  purposes.  The  danger  of  pollution  from  this 
source  can  be  made  very  small  by  proper  police  protec 
tion. 

The  watershed  of  Breed’s  pond  is  very  largely  within  the 
Lynn  Woods,  but  there  are  a few  houses,  the  drainage 
from  which  might  find  its  way  more  or  less  directly  into 
the  pond  near  the  gate-house.  The  sewage  from  these 


62 


houses  can  be  removed  from  the  watershed  without  any 
serious  difficulty.  The  cost  of  a sewer  for  this  purpose 
would  not  be  more  than  $1,000. 

The  watershed  of  Birch  pond  contains  a number  of 
houses,  including  several  summer  camps.  It  will  be  diffi- 
cult to  construct  a sewer  to  convey  the  sewage  from  all  of 
this  population  outside  of  the  watershed,  or  to  connect  with 
the  city  sewers.  It  is  essential,  however,  that  sewers 
should  be  provided  for  those  houses,  which  are  located  on 
the  slopes  leading  directly  to  the  pond,  if  the  water  is  to  be 
used  without  filtration ; and  it  is  also  desirable  that  the 
drainage  from  the  street  which  runs  along  the  edge  of  the 
pond  should  be  conveyed  to  a point  outside  of  the  water- 
shed of  the  pond  and  thus  prevent  the  entrance  of  great 
quantities  of  street  filth  at  times  of  storms.  Tight  vaults 
can  for  the  present  be  provided  for  the  buildings  in  the 
upper  portion  of  the  watersheds.  A rough  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  the  work  essential  to  be  done  at  once  is  $10,000. 
If  it  were  a question  only  of  the  pollution  of  the  water 
from  the  present  buildings,  it  might  very  likely  be  found 
to  be  cheaper  to  purchase  some  of  the  property  and  remove 
the  houses  than  to  construct  sewers,  but  should  these  houses 
be  purchased,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  construction 
of  houses  on  other  land  within  the  watershed.  It  will 
probably  be  desirable  to  purchase  some  of  the  land  within 
the  watershed  of  this  pond  in  any  case.  The  preservation 
of  the  purity  of  this  pond  is  of  the  utmost  importance  under 
the  present  conditions,  since  the  water  from  it  is  drawn 
directly  to  the  pumps  and  thence  supplied  to  the  city  with- 
out the  purifying  effect  of  long  storage  which  is  possible  in 
the  case  of  the  other  ponds. 


63 


The  Hawkes  pond  watershed  contains  a large  popula- 
tion, most  of  which  is  situated  upon  Hawkes  brook  which 
enters  the  reservoir  at  its  upper  end.  The  watershed  con- 
tains about  ioo  houses,  many  of  them  situated  close  to  the 
stream,  The  village  of  South  Lynnfield  is  largely  within 
the  watershed.  In  order  to  thoroughly  protect  this  brook 
from  sewage  pollution,  a sewer  should  be  constructed  to 
serve  the  houses  in  South  Lynnfield,  and  tight  vaults  should 
be  constructed  for  all  houses  which  cannot  be  served  by 
the  sewers.  The  sewage  cannot  be  discharged  into  any 
stream,  so  that  purification  works  will  be  necessary  in  con- 
nection with  any  scheme  for  sewerage  in  this  vicinity.  The 
vaults  should  be  inspected  from  time  to  time  by  the  city 
authorities  and  it  will  probably  be  necessary  for  the  city  to 
pay  the  expense  of  keeping  the  vaults  clean.  In  some 
cases  the  conditions  are  so  bad  that  it  is  desirable  for  the 
city  to  purchase  the  control  of  the  property.  There  are 
several  large  piggeries  on  the  watershed,  the  filthy  drain- 
age from  which  flows  directly  or  indirectly  into  the  brook, 
and  in  some  cases  the  hogs  wallow  in  the  streams  or  along 
the  edge  of  the  meadows  tributary  to  the  streams.  There 
is  also  a slaughter-house  situated  within  a short  distance  of 
the  brook.  Both  the  piggeries  and  the  slaughter-house 
should  be  removed  to  some  point  outside  of  the  watershed, 
since  some  filth  from  these  must  inevitably  find  its  way 
into  the  brook.  Considerable  improvement  has  been  made 
in  the  condition  of  this  brook,  and  several  of  the  worst 
cases  of  pollution  have  been  removed,  but  there  yet  remains 
much  to  be  done  if  the  water  is  to  be  used  without  filtration. 
It  is  possible  that  the  construction  of  sewers  can  be  deferred 


64 


if  suitable  precautions  are  taken  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
polluting  matter,  by  the  purchase  of  property,  the  con- 
struction of  vaults  and  thorough  inspection.  The  cost  of 
construction  of  water-tight  vaults  and  other  work  within  the 
watersheds  would  amount  to  about  $3,000.  The  amount 
which  might  be  expended  to  good  advantage  in  the  pur- 
chase of  land  along  the  streams  is  very  uncertain,  but  for 
the  purposes  of  estimate  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  sum  of 
$5,000  should  be  expended  in  this  way  in  the  immediate 
future. 

To  summarize,  the  cost  of  improving  the  quality  of  the 
water  of  the  four  storage  reservoirs  and  their  tributaries 
would  be  as  follows  : 


Draining  swamps 
Improving  bottoms 
Protection  from  pollution 


$ 7,000 

75? 000 
19,000 


Total 


$101,000 


Improvement  of  Saugus  River . The  water  of  the  Saugus 
river  above  the  canal  at  Montrose,  as  already  indicated,  is 
highly  colored  from  contact  with  the  vegetable  matter  in  the 
swamps  through  which  the  water  passes,  and  it  is  also 
polluted  by  sewage,  some  of  which  finds  its  way  quite 
directly  into  the  stream.  The  water  is  unfit  for  domestic 
use  in  its  present  condition. 

In  order  to  use  this  water  without  filtration,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  remove  so  far  as  possible  the  various  sources 
of  pollution,  to  keep  the  swamps  from  being  flooded,  and 
then  to  provide  for  the  storage  of  the  water  for  a long 
period  in  a suitably  prepared  storage  reservoir. 


6s 


By  storage  in  reservoirs  for  a suitable  length  of  time  the 
disease  germs  would  be  completely  removed,  and  the  water 
drawn  from  the  reservoir  would  be  less  highly  colored  than 
the  water  entering  it.  The  period  during  which  the  water 
should  be  stored  varies  with  the  conditions,  but  it  is  certain 
that  if  the  Saugus  river  should  be  stored  for  a period  of 
four  months  any  disease  germs  present  in  the  river  water 
would  be  absolutely  destroyed. 

The  town  of  Wakefield  is  already  provided  with  a sewer- 
age system,  and  much  of  the  sewage  from  this  town  is 
removed  from  the  watershed.  The  town  of  Reading,  how- 
ever, which  has  a large  population  is  without  a sewerage 
system,  and  the  sewage  from  many  buildings  finds  its  way 
very  directly  into  the  streams.  The  construction  of  a 
sewerage  system  for  this  town  has  been  under  consideration 
for  several  years  and  plans  have  already  been  prepared. 
The  water  which  receives  the  drainage  from  Reading 
passes  through  one  end  of  Quannapowitt  Lake,  so  that  it 
already  receives  some  benefit  from  storage.  There  are 
numerous  other  sources  of  pollution  along  the  stream  and 
its  tributaries  at  points  nearer  the  head  of  the  canal,  but  in 
all  of  these  cases,  with  the  enforcement  of  rules  and  regu- 
lations similar  to  those  now  in  force  for  the  protection  of 
the  other  sources  of  supply,  the  direct  pollution  of  the 
stream  by  sewage  can  be  largely  prevented. 

It  would  be  practically  impossible  to  drain  the  immense 
areas  of  swamps  within  the  watershed  of  the  Saugus  river, 
and  in  fact,  with  the  present  canal  it  is  impossible  to  draw 
water  into  Hawkes  pond  without  flooding  the  swamps.  It 
would  appear  to  be  feasible  to  improve  the  channel  of  the 


66 


main  stream  above  the  canal  and  to  construct  tributary- 
ditches  so  as  to  prevent  the  flooding  of  the  meadows, 
except  at  times  of  extreme  high  water,  but  this  would  be 
of  little  use  if  the  present  method  of  obtaining  water  by 
raising  its  level  is  continued. 

Under  the  present  plan,  water  from  the  river  is  taken  at 
times  of  high  flow  through  the  canal  into  the  upper  end  of 
Hawkes  pond.  Water  from  Hawkes  pond  is  drawn 
through  another  canal  to  the  Walden  pond  pumping  sta- 
tion where  it  is  pumped  into  Walden  pond.  Water  is  taken 
from  the  Saugus  river  only  at  times  of  high  flow.  In  this 
way  both  Walden  pond  and  Hawkes  pond  contain  water 
from  the  Saugus  river.  In  order  to  provide  sufficient 
storage  for  the  Saugus  river  water  to  insure  the  destruction 
of  all  of  the  disease  germs  and  make  the  water  safe  for 
domestic  purposes  it  would  be  necessary  to  hold  the  water 
of  Hawkes  pond  and  of  Walden  pond  in  storage  for  a 
period  of  about  four  months  after  the  flow  from  the  Saugus 
river  had  ceased.  During  this  period  water  must  be  drawn 
from  the  other  ponds  for  the  supply  of  the  city. 

Calculations  have  been  made  to  determine  the  length  of 
time  under  average  conditions  and  under  the  most  unfavor- 
able conditions  during  which  it  would  be  possible  to  store 
the  water  in  Walden  and  Hawkes  ponds.  It  is  found  that 
with  the  estimated  consumption  in  1910  it  would  be  possi- 
ble in  a year  of  average  rainfall  to  supply  the  city  for  a 
period  of  five  months  from  Birch  and  Breed’s  ponds,  dur- 
ing which  time  the  water  of  Walden  pond  and  Hawkes 
pond  could  remain  in  storage.  During  a very  dry  year 
this  time  would  be  only  3 1-2  months.  With  the  esti- 


67 


mated  consumption  for  the  year  1915?  it  would  be  possible 
to  store  the  water  in  Hawkes  and  Walden  ponds  for  a 
period  of  3 1-2  months  in  the  average  years,  and  for  1 1-2 
months  during  an  extremely  dry  year.  In  these  compu- 
tations it  has  been  assumed  that  Birch  and  Breed’s  ponds 
would  be  full  at  the  time  the  draft  of  water  from  the  Saugus 
river  is  begun,  and  that  the  water  would  be  drawn  entirely 
out  of  Breed’s  and  Birch  ponds  before  any  water  is  used 
from  Hawkes  or  Walden  ponds.  This  is  not  a plan  to  be 
recommended,  however,  since  the  water  of  the  reservoirs 
in  warm  weather  is  certain  to  become  objectionable  when 
drawn  to  a low  level.  Furthermore,  the  exposed  bottoms 
of  the  ponds  would  be  exceedingly  unsightly  and  an  excel- 
lent opportunity  would  be  afforded  for  a rank  growth  of 
weeds,  which  would  affect  the  quality  of  the  water  during 
the  succeeding  season.  It  does  not  seem  feasible  to  secure 
a safe  water  from  the  Saugus  river  with  the  works  as  at 
present  constructed. 

It  is  evident  that  if  Hawkes  pond  should  be  filled  with 
water  which  can  be  safely  used,  and  if  Walden  pond  is 
the  only  pond  receiving  Saugus  river  water  directly,  the 
time  during  which  the  Saugus  river  water  could  be  stored 
would  be  very  greatly  increased.  To  accomplish  this, 
two  methods  seem  to  be  possible.  First,  a pipe  might  be 
laid  from  the  upper  end  of  Hawkes  pond  to  a point  below 
the  dam  in  order  to  carry*  the  Saugus  river  water  around 
Hawkes  pond,  whence  it  could  flow  to  the  Walden  pond 
pumping  station  and  thence  be  pumped  into  Walden  pond. 
This  would  keep  the  Hawkes  pond  water  free  from  con- 
tamination from  the  polluted  Saugus  river  water  and  this 


68 


pond  with  its  large  storage  and  its  comparatively  large 
watershed  would  be  made  available  for  use  during  the 
time  the  Saugus  river  water  is  stored  in  Walden  pond. 

Another  scheme  for  getting  the  water  from  the  Saugus 
river  into  Walden  pond  without  passing  it  through  Hawkes 
pond  would  be  to  abandon  the  present  Walden  pond  pump- 
ing station  and  to  construct  a pumping  station  at  Montrose 
near  the  head  of  the  present  canal  with  a force-main  run- 
ning along  Lowell  street  for  about  5,000  feet  and  thence 
along  the  valley  of  a small  tributary  of  Hawkes  brook 
into  Walden  pond  watershed.  It  would  be  possible  to 
construct  a small  intake  basin  just  above  Lowell  street 
which  would  back  the  water  up  to  about  the  head  of  the 
canal  without  flooding  the  meadows  and  furnshing  a suffi- 
cient basin  so  that  the  pumps  could  be  operated  to  advan- 
tage. A pumping  station  could  be  erected  near  Lowell 
street  equipped  with  electrically  driven  centrifugal  pumps. 
The  pumping  capacity  for  many  years  in  the  future  need 
not  be  more  than  10,000,000  gallons  per  24  hours.  The 
most  economical  force-main  for  this  amount  of  water 
would  be  a 24-inch  main,  and  the  length  of  force-main 
would  be  9,000  feet ; the  static  head  against  which  the 
pumps  would  have  to  operate  would  be  22  feet,  while  the 
total  dynamic  head  operated  at  the  10,000,000  gallon  rate 
would  be  from  50  feet  to  60  feet. 

The  advantages  of  this  scheme  over  the  scheme  of  lay- 
ing a pipe  through  or  around  Hawkes  pond  are  very  great. 
In  the  first  place,  it  would  be  possible  to  take  water  from 
the  Saugus  river  without  flooding  the  vast  area  of  meadows 
as  is  necessary  with  the  present  canal.  The  cost  of  pump- 


69 


ing  will  also  be  very  small  as  compared  with  the  cost  of 
pumping  at  the  present  pumping  station.  The  lift  required 
to  get  the  water  from  the  Saugus  river  into  Walden  pond 
would  be  only  about  22  feet,  while  at  present  the  water 
from  the  Saugus  river  flows  through  Hawkes  pond  and 
thence  to  Walden  pond  pumping  station,  making  it  neces- 
sary to  lift  it  about  40  feet  when  Walden  pond  is  full. 
Furthermore,  it  would  be  possible  to  draw  water  for  the 
supply  of  the  city  or  for  the  filling  of  the  other  ponds  from 
Hawkes  pond  during  the  time  when  water  was  being 
pumped  from  the  Saugus  river  into  Walden  pond,  which 
would  not  be  possible  if  the  Saugus  river  water  was  carried 
around  Hawkes  pond,  unless  a separate  pipe  should  be 
carried  from  the  Saugus  canal  through  to  the  Walden  pond 
pumping  station. 

If  the  pumping  plant  should  be  constructed  and  the 
force-main  laid  from  Montrose  to  Walden  pond,  with 
similar  assumptions  to  those  previously  made,  it  would  be 
possible  to  store  the  water  in  Walden  pond  during  a very 
dry  year  without  drawing  any  water  whatever  from  this 
source  for  a period  of  about  five  and  one-half  months  when 
the  consumption  is  as  great  as  it  is  estimated  to  be  in  the 
year  1910.  During  an  average^year  the  period  of  storage 
would  be  10  months.  When  the  consumption  reaches  the 
estimated  consumption  for  the  year  1915,  these  figures 
would  be  four  months  for  a very  dry  year  and  six  and  one- 
half  months  for  an  average  year.  As  in  the  previous  case, 
this  assumes  that  all  of  the  water  will  be  drawn  from  the 
other  reservoirs  before  any  is  used  from  Walden  pond  and 
this  would  mean  poor  water  for  a time.  If  only  one-half 


70 


of  the  water  stored  in  Birch,  Breed’s  and  Hawkes  ponds 
should  be  drawn  from  storage,  the  time  during  which  water 
could  be  stored  in  Walden  pond  would  be  about  three 
months  during  a dry  year  and  five  and  one-half  months 
during  an  average  year  with  the  estimated  consumption  for 
1910  ; and  one  and  one-half  months  during  a dry  year  and 
four  and  one-half  months  during  an  average  year  with  the 
estimated  consumption  for  1915.  It  would  seem  possible, 
therefore,  even  up  to  1915  to  secure  storage  for  the  Saugus 
river  for  a sufficient  period  to  insure  the  destruction  of  any 
disease  germs  which  may  be  in  the  water  discharged  from 
that  stream  into  Walden  pond,  but  it  would  mean  that  dur- 
ing very  dry  years  the  ponds  would  be  drawn  to  a very  low 
level,  and  the  water  consequently  would  be  likely  to  be  of 
poor  quality  and  an  opportunity  would  be  afforded  for  a 
growth  of  weeds  and  grasses  on  the  exposed  bottoms. 

The  cost  of  the  works  for  pumping  water  from  the  Sau- 
gus river  at  Montrose  directly  into  Walden  pond  is  esti- 
mated to  be  as  follows  : 


Intake  basin  on  Saugus 

river  . 

$5, ooo 

Pumping  station  . 

. . 

1,000 

Pumping  machinery  ( 1 

0,000,000  gal.  cap.) 

5,  ooo 

Force  main,  24-inch 

* . . . 

45,000 

Land  damages 

. 

5,  ooo 

Total 

• • • • 

$61,000 

If  these  works  should  be  installed,  there  would  be  no 
further  use  for  the  Walden  pond  pumping  plant,  which 
could  be  sold.  No  deduction  has  been  made  for  this  plant, 
as  the  amount  which  would  be  received  by  its  sale  is  very 
uncertain. 


7i 


Changes  in  Piping. 

A very  essential  part  of  any  plan  for  utilizing  the  present 
sources  without  filtration  is  to  construct  pipe  lines  of  suffi- 
cient size  so  that  water  can  be  drawn  from  any  one  of  the 
reservoirs  in  sufficient  quantities  for  the  supply  of  the  city 
without  using  water  from  any  other  source.  These  pipes 
should  also  be  of  sufficient  size  to  permit  of  the  rapid  filling 
of  Birch  and  Breed’s  ponds  from  the  upper  ponds.  For 
this  purpose  it  would  be  desirable  to  construct  a 36-inch 
pipe  line  from  Hawkes  pond  to  the  present  Walden  pond 
pumping  station,  there  to  connect  with  the  lines  now  in 
existence  leading  to  Walden  pond  and  to  Birch  pond. 
There  are  now  two  lines  of  30-inch  pipe  from  the  Walden 
pond  pumping  station  to  the  upper  end  of  the  tunnel  at  the 
head  of  Birch  pond.  It  would  probably  be  desirable  to 
lay  a pipe  inside  of  the  tunnel  extending  beyond  the  tunnel 
along  the  edge  of  Birch  pond  to  a point  below  the  pond, 
there  to  connect  with  the  present  22-inch  and  30-inch  lines 
leading  to  the  Walnut  street  pumping  station.  At  the 
upper  end  of  Birch  pond,  provisions  could  be  made  so  that 
one  of  the  30-inch  pipes  could  discharge  into  Birch  pond 
when  the  other  was  conveying  water  around  Birch  pond 
either  to  the  pumping  station  or  to  Breed’s  pond. 

Breed’s  pond  is  at  present  connected  with  the  pumping 
station  by  an  18-inch  pipe.  A 36-inch  pipe  should  be 
laid  from  the  pond  to  connect  with  the  present  pipes  from 
Birch  pond  to  the  pumping  station.  This  connection  could 
be  made  at  a point  about  4,000  feet  below  Birch  pond,  and 
the  connection  would  be  about  2,300  feet  in  length.  With 


72 


these  changes  in  piping  it  would  be  possible  to  draw  from 
any  one  of  the  reservoirs  in  sufficient  quantity  to  supply 
the  city.  At  the  same  time  that  water  was  being  drawn 
from  any  reservoir  it  would  be  possible  to  do  a certain 
amount  of  filling  of  the  lower  reservoirs  from  the  upper 
reservoirs. 

The  cost  of  these  changes  in  the  piping  would  be  about 
as  follows  : 

Line  from  Hawkes  pond  to  Walden  pond  pump- 
ing station,  4,480  feet  36-inch  pipe  at  $8.70  . $39,000 

Extension  of  30-inch  pipes  through  tunnel,  1,358 

feet  at  $7.00  ......  9,500 

36-inch  pipe  from  upper  end  to  lower  end  of 

Birch  pond,  5,000  feet  at  $8.70  . . . 43,500 

Cnnnection  with  Breed’s  pond  and  present  line 


from  Birch  pond  to  pumping  station,  2,200 
feet  of  36-inch  pipe  at  $8.70 

20,000 

Total  ........ 

$112,000 

The  cost,  therefore,  of  obtaining  the  best  water  possible 
from  the  present  sources  of  supply  would  be  about  as  fol- 
lows : 

Drainage  of  swamps  ..... 

Removing  or  covering  mud  .... 

Cleaning  up  watersheds  ..... 

Intake  basin  on  Saugus  river  .... 

Force-main  Saugus  river  to  Walden  pond  . 
Pumping  plant  ...... 

New  mains  from  reservoirs  .... 

Land  damages  ....... 

$7,000 

75. 000 

19.000 

5.000 

45 .000 

6.000 
ii  2,000 

5. 000 

Total  ........ 

Engineering  inspection  and  contingencies  15  per 
cent  ........ 

$274,000 

41,100 

Total 


$315, io° 


73 


Vitality  of  Water  Obtainable  fro?n  Present  Sources . 
The  quality  of  water  which  would  be  obtained  by  the 
above  works  would  be  considerably  better  than  the  quality 
of  the  water  now  furnished  to  the  city,  and  by  the  proper 
use  of  the  Saugus  river  and  the  storage  reservoirs  and 
with  competent  inspection  a water  could  be  obtained  which 
would  be  reasonably  safe.  The  water  furnished  to  the 
city,  however,  would  be  highly  colored,  it  would  generally 
have  a slight  vegetable  taste  and  odor  and  would  be  subject 
at  times  to  growths  of  organisms  which  would  make  it 
very  objectionable.  While  it  is  very  likely  that  such 
growths  will  occur  at  times  in  all  of  the  reservoirs  simul- 
taneously, it  is  probable  that  at  other  times  certain  of  the 
reservoirs  will  be  affected  while  others  are  not,  and  with 
the  plan  proposed  it  would  be  possible  to  deliver  to  the 
consumers  water  from  the  best  source.  After  everything 
has  been  done  to  prevent  the  pollution,  there  will  still  be 
the  possibility  of  local  pollution  of  any  of  the  sources, 
which  cannot  be  entirely  prevented  in  a densely  populated 
neighborhood,  but  this  with  proper  inspection  cannot  be 
considered  a great  danger.  The  water  will  not  be  a clean 
water,  on  account  of  the  large  amount  of  street  wash  con- 
taining horse  manure  and  other  filth  from  the  streets  which 
will  be  washed  into  the  reservoirs  at  times  of  storms.  In 
dry  seasons,  the  ponds,  except  Walden  pond  will  be 
drawn  to  a low  level,  becoming  unsightly,  affording  an 
opportunity  for  the  growth  of  weeds  and  at  such  times 
probably  furnishing  poor  water. 

The  water  supply  developed  as  outlined  and  providing 
for  the  storage  of  the  Saugus  river  water  for  a sufficient 


74 


time  to  insure  the  destruction  of  all  disease  germs  would 
probably  be  sufficient  to  last  until  about  the  year  1915  if 
the  water  of  Quannapowitt  Lake  is  not  taken  for  the  supply 
of  Wakefield.  If  Wakefield  should  take  its  water  supply 
from  Quannapowitt  and  divert  all  of  the  water  as  it  is 
privileged  to  do,  the  supply  would  last  until  about  the  year 
1912.  The  population  on  the  Saugus  river  watershed  is 
increasing  quite  rapidly  and  it  will  be* increasingly  difficult 
and  expensive  to  restrict  the  pollution  of  the  water.  At  the 
same  time  the  period  of  storage  of  this  water  in  Walden 
pond  which  will  be  possible  will  be  rapidly  decreasing 
with  the  increased  population  and  use  of  water  in  Lynn,  so 
that  it  is  likely  that  some  other  source  than  the  Saugus 
river  will  be  found  desirable  before  the  limit  of  the  capacity 
is  reached,  unless  the  supply  is  filtered. 

If  the  present  sources  should  be  used  as  outlined  above 
and  it  should  be  found  desirable  to  add  to  the  supply,  it 
‘would  be  necessary,  unless  the  water  should  be  purified  to 
find  some  unpolluted  source  which  could  be  used  during 
the  time  when  the  Saugus  river  is  stored.  The  most 
available  source  for  this  purpose  appears  to  be  Pillings 
pond,  the  water  of  which  can  be  carried  to  Hawkes  pond 
by  gravity,  but  the  yield  of  the  sources  would  not  be  very 
greatly  increased  by  the  use  of  this  pond.  The  water  of 
the  Ipswich  river  can  be  pumped  into  the  watershed  of 
Pillings  pond  at  a comparatively  small  expense  and  be 
passed  through  filter-beds  before  being  discharged  into  the 
pond,  giving  a large  additional  supply.  These  possibilities 
for  obtaining  an  additional  supply  will  be  discussed  more 
in  detail  subsequently  in  connection  with  the  development 
of  other  schemes. 


75 


Use  of  the  Tributaries  of  the  Saugus  River. 

The  water  obtained  from  the  Saugus  river  is  of  such 
objectionable  character,  due  both  to  the  pollution  and  to 
the  large  areas  of  swamps  bordering  the  streams,  that  it 
has  been  proposed  to  take  the  water  from  its  two  principal 
tributaries,  Pillings  brook  and  Beaver  dam  brook,  using 
the  water  from  these  sources  instead  of  the  water  of  the 
main  stream.-  By  the  use  of  these  two  branches  in  connec- 
tion with  the  ponds,  it  would  be  possible  to  obtain  a yield 
of  about  6,300,000  gallons  per  day.  This  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  supply  the  city,  until  about  the  year  1911  without 
the  use  of  the  main  stream. 

Examinations  of  the  water  of  Beaver  dam  brook  made 
during  the  past  year  show  that  its  quality  is  very  little  if 
any  better  than  that  of  the  Saugus  river.  The  brook  drains 
a large  area  of  swamp,  and  its  watershed  contains  a con- 
siderable portion  of  the  village  of  Lynnfield  center.  If  the 
water  is  to  be  used  without  long  storage,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  expend  a large  sum  in  preventing  its  pollution.  The 
water  which  during  dry  weatheris  of  fairly  good  color,  dur- 
ing wet  seasons  has  a very  high  color.  Studies  have  been 
made  to  see  if  it  would  be  possible  to  use  the  water  of  this 
brook  either  by  the  construction  of  a gravity  line  to  Hawkes 
pond  or  by  pumping  it  into  the  watersheds  of  Pillings  or 
Walden  ponds.  It  is  found  that  to  get  the  water  into 
Hawkes  pond  by  gravity,  it  would  be  necessary  to  construct 
a dam  and  flood  a large  area  to  a small  depth.  The  area 
which  would  be  flooded  is  swampy,  and  the  water  stored 
would  be  of  an  exceedingly  poor  quality.  Furthermore, 


7 6 


the  expense  of  obtaining  the  water  and  preventing  its  pol- 
lution would  be  entirely  disproportionate  to  the  value  of  the 
water  which  would  be  obtained. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  any  scheme  for  pumping  the 
water.  During  dry  weather  the  flow  of  the  stream  is  very 
small  and  it  would  probably  be  uneconomical  to  operate  a 
pump,  except  at  times  when  the  flow  of  the  stream  is  high. 
In  this  way  a large  proportion  of  the  yearly  flow  of  the 
brook  would  be  lost. 

Pillings  pond  is  about  one  mile  from  the  upper  end  of 
Hawkes  pond.  The  pond  is  now  used  to  store  water  for 
operating  a cider-mill.  The  elevation  of  high  water  in  the 
pond  is  101.6,  or  about  31  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water 
in  the  Saugus  river.  The  pond  has  a watershed  of  1.60 
square  miles  which  is  practically  uninhabited,  except  that 
there  is  a large  summer  population  in  cottages  on  the 
shores  of  the  pond.  The  pond  itself  is  shallow,  the 
general  depth  being  six  feet,  and  at  one  end  of  the  pond 
there  is  an  extensive  area  of  swamp.  The  pond  has  a 
muddy  bottom  over  its  entire  area.  The  area  of  the  pond 
is  70  acres  and  its  storage  capacity  about  100,000,000 
gallons,  which  is  small  in  comparison  with  its  watershed. 

The  water  at  the  outlet  of  the  pond,  notwithstanding  the 
unfavorable  character  of  the  pond  for  storing  water  is  of 
much  better  quality  than  that  of  any  of  the  present  sources 
of  water  supply.  If  it  can  be  connected  with  the  present 
sources  at  a reasonable  expense  this  pond  would  make  a 
valuable  addition  to  the  supply. 

The  yield  of  Pillings  pond,  together  with  the  reservoirs 
which  constitute  the  present  sources  of  supply  would  be 


77 


about  5,500,000  gallons  per  day  in  a very  dry  season, 
which  is  about  the  present  consumption  of  water  in  the 
city.  It  will  still  be  necessary,  therefore,  if  the  water  of 
Pillings  pond  is  taken  to  use  the  water  of  the  main  stream 
at  times.  During  average  years  the  supply  from  Pillings 
pond  would  be  sufficient  so  that  it  would  not  be  necessary 
to  pump  any  water  from  the  Saugus  river  until  the 
consumption  increases  considerably  beyond  the  present 
amount. 

Two  methods  of  securing  the  water  from  this  pond  have 
been  considered ; first,  by  laying  a gravity  main  into 
Hawkes  pond  watershed,  allowing  the  water  of  Pillings 
pond  to  flow  into  Hawkes  pond  by  gravity;  second,  by 
laying  a gravity  main  to  the  Walden  pond  watershed  and 
with  arrangements  so  that  the  water  can  be  discharged 
either  into  Walden  pond  or  into  Hawkes  pond.  The  works 
for  conveying  the  water  to  Hawkes  pond  would  be  very 
inexpensive  to  construct,  but  the  disadvantage  of  this 
scheme  is  that  when  it  is  necessary  to  use  water  from  the 
Saugus  river,  the  water  in  Hawkes  pond  must  be  kept 
stored  for  a period  of  several  months,  and  no  water  from 
Pillings  pond  could  be  used  during  this  period  to  eke  out 
the  present  supply,  as  it  would  all  have  to  pass  through 
Hawkes  pond.  If  Pillings  pond  is  to  be  used  it  is  desir- 
able that  the  water  of  the  Saugus  river  be  pumped  directly 
from  Montrose  to  Walden  pond,  and  under  these  circum- 
stances the  water  from  Pillings  pond  can  be  conveyed  to 
Walden  pond  through  the  same  pipe  at  a comparatively 
small  additional  expense. 

The  works  which  would  be  necessary  for  carrying  out 
this  scheme  are  as  follows : 


78 


Construct  a small  intake  basin  on  the  Saugus  river  at  a 
point  just  above  Lowell  street,  backing  water  up  to  about 
the  head  of  the  old  canal,  but  without  flooding  the 
meadows.  Construct  a 10,000,000  gallon  centrifugal 
pumping  plant,  the  pumps  to  be  operated  by  electric 
motors.  From  the  pumping  station  construct  an  18-inch 
force-main  along  Lowell  street  to  a point  where  it  would 
intercept  a gravity  main  from  Pillings  pond  to  Walden 
pond.  Construct  from  Pillings  pond  to  Walden  a 36-inch 
main,  chiefly  of  concrete,  discharging  into  the  westerly 
arm  of  the  pond,  at  a point  where  this  main  crosses 
Hawkes  brook  gates  and  a blow-off  should  be  provided  so 
that  the  water  from  Pillings  pond  can  be  discharged  into 
Hawkes  pond  when  desirable. 

The  difference  in  elevation  between  Walden  and  Pil- 
lings pond  is  about  eight  feet,  and  a 36-inch  pipe  would 
discharge  about  12,000,000  gallons  of  water  per  day. 
This  is  more  than  Pillings  pond  would  furnish,  but  a 36- 
inch  pipe  is  recommended  with  a view  to  conveying  the 
water  of  the  Ipswich  river  to  Walden  pond  at  some  time, 
since  it  is  plain  that  if  this  scheme  is  adopted,  the  ultimate 
development  of  the  supply  will  be  by  pumping  the  Ipswich 
river  water  into  Pillings  pond  watershed. 

In  a year  of  average  rainfall  with  the  present  consump- 
tion of  water,  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  pump  any  water 
whatever  from  the  Saugus  river  if  Pillings  pond  were  con- 
nected with  the  system.  With  the  estimated  consumption 
in  1915  and  in  a year  of  average  rainfall  it  would  be  nec- 
essary to  pump  about  500,000,000  gallons  of  water  during 
the  year  in  order  to  fill  the  reservoirs. 


79 


In  an  exceedingly  dry  year  with  the  present  consump- 
tion, it  might  be  necessary  to  pump  about  100,000,000  gal- 
lons during  the  year. 

In  a very  dry  year  in  1915  it  would  be  necessary  to 
pump  875,000,000  gallons  from  the  Saugus  river  during 
the  year. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  during  the  next  few  years 
the  Pillings  pond  supply  would  be  likely  to  furnish  all  of 
the  water  required  in  addition  to  the  water  from  the  pres- 
ent ponds,  but  if  a dry  year  should  come,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  pump  a small  quantity  from  the  Saugus  river 
or  from  some  other  source. 

When  the  undesirable  water  from  the  Saugus  river  is 
used  for  filling  up  Walden  pond,  the  water  of  Pillings  pond 
could  be  discharged  into  Hawkes  brook  at  a point  where 
the  main  would  cross  that  stream,  and  the  addition  of  this 
water  to  Hawkes  pond  would  lengthen  materially  the  time 
during  which  the  water  of  Walden  pond  could  be  stored. 

The  adoption  of  this  plan  would  give  the  city  the  best 
water  which  it  is  practicable  to  secure  from  the  present 
sources  without  filtration,  supplemented  by  any  of  the  avail- 
able sources  in  the  vicinity.  By  thoroughly  draining  the 
swamps  upon  the  watersheds  of  the  ponds,  removing  or 
covering  the  mud  on  the  bottom  of  Birch  and  Breed’s 
ponds,  and  so  far  as  possible  on  the  bottom  of  Walden 
pond,  water  could  be  obtained,  the  color  of  which  would 
be  considerably  less  than  the  color  of  the  water  now  sup- 
plied to  the  city.  The  color,  however,  will  increase  as 
more  water  from  Saugus  river  is  required.  The  water 
will  have  a vegetable  taste,  and  will  be  subject  to  growths 


8o 


of  organisms  as  at  present,  except  that  the  cleaning  of  the 
reservoirs  and  the  drainage  of  swamps  will  assist  some- 
what in  diminishing  the  troubles  from  this  cause,  and  by 
making  possible  the  drawing  of  water  from  any  one  of  the 
ponds  directly  to  the  pumps,  the  troubles  from  this  cause 
will  be  still  further  diminished. 

The  following  is  a rough  estimate  of  the  cost  of  con- 
struction for  comparison  with  the  cost  of  construction  in  the 
other  schemes  previously  outlined  : 


Estimated  Cost  of  Improving  the  Present  Sources  of 
Supply  by  taking  Water  from  Pillings  Pond 
Without  Filtration. 


Drainage  of  swamps 

. 

$7,000 

Improvement  of  bottom  of  ponds 

. 

. 

75, ooo 

Pipe  line  from  Hawkes  pond  to 
pumping  station 

Walden 

pond 

39,000 

Extension  of  pipe  through  tunnel 
pond  ..... 

above 

Birch 

9?5°° 

Pipe  line  around  Birch  pond 

. 

. 

43>5°° 

Pipe  line  to  Breed’s  pond 

. 

. 

20,000 

Intake  basin  on  Saugus  river 

. 

. 

5, ooo 

Pumping  plant,  including  station 

. 

. 

6,000 

Gravity  main  from  Pillings  pond  to 

Walden  pond 

65,000 

Force-main  from  Saugus  river  to 
above  gravity  main 

connect  with 

18,000 

Protection  from  pollution 

. 

. 

20,000 

Land  and  water  damages 

• 

25,000 

Total  ..... 

. 

$333>°°° 

Engineering  inspection  and  contngencies, 
cent  ...... 

15  per 

49i95° 

Total  ..... 

. 

. 

$382i95° 

8i 


In  this  case,  also,  the  Walden  pond  pumping  plant  will 
be  of  no  further  use  and  the  amount  received  from  its  sale 
should  be  deducted  from  the  figures  given  above. 


Use  of  Water  from  Present  Sources  After  Filtration. 

The  filtration  of  the  water  supply  of  Lynn  has  been 
under  consideration  for  many  years  and  has  for  a long 
time  been  considered  a part  of  the  plan  for  the  future 
development  of  the  supply. 

In  1898,  the  Water  Board  in  its  report  to  the  mayor  and 
the  City  Council  made  the  following  recommendations : 

“ Purity  of  Water.” 

"This  is  a subject  of  the  highest  importance  for  the  wel- 
fare of  our  citizens.  Such  an  important  factor  in  the  daily 
life  of  every  individual  should  be  delivered  to  them  in  the 
highest  degree  of  purity  possible.  To  effect  this  most 
desirable  result  a large  amount  of  labor  has  already  been 
performed  in  improving  the  watersheds  and  cleaning  out 
the  beds  of  the  ponds. 

"It  is  desirable  to  still  further  continue  our  work  in 
another  direction.  For  some  time  particular  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  purification  of  surface  water  supplies  by 
filtration.  The  most  comprehensive  studies  of  the  results 
to  be  gained  by  filtration  have  been  obtained  by  the  State 
Board  of  Health  during  the  last  ten  years  at  their  experi- 
ment station  at  Lawrence. 

" The  value  of  their  experiments  may  be  deduced  from 
the  fact  that  an  experimental  filter  so  located  as  to  make  it 


82 


comparable  with  a large  filter  of  a city  supply  system  has 
given  an  average  bacterial  efficiency  of  99.70  per  cent, 
while  under  continuous  operation  one  year. 

" The  improvement  made  in  the  purity  of  a water  supply 
by  filtration  is  more  plainly  shown  by  the  effect  upon  the 
health  of  the  people  of  Lawrence  from  the  filter  built  under 
the  advice  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  and  first  put  in 
operation  September  20,  1893. 

"To  still  further  improve  the  quality,  we  recommend  the 
filtration  through  sand,  as  recommended  by  the  State 
Board  of  Health  for  Lawrence.” 

Three  years  later  in  1901,  legislative  authority  was  ob- 
tained by  the  city  to  "establish  filtration  beds  for  the  filtra- 
tion of  its  present  water  supply  or  any  additional  water  sup- 

p]y-” 

Early  in  1906,  Mr.  Allen  Hazen,  civil  engineer,  made 
a report  to  the  Mayor  of  the  city  recommending  the  puri- 
fication of  the  present  sources  of  supply  by  some  form  of 
filtration. 

Later  in  the  same  year,  the  engineer  of  the  State  Board 
of  Health  and  the  city  engineer  of  Lynn  after  a thorough 
investigation  of  the  sources  of  supply,  and  the  possibilities 
of  increasing  and  improving  the  supply,  recommended  the 
filtration  of  the  present  sources  by  slow  sand  filtration. 

It  is  undoubtedly  a fact  that  whatever  plan  is  adopted  to 
meet  the  present  requirements,  the  city  of  Lynn  will  be 
obliged  eventually  to  filter  its  water  supply  in  accordance 
with  the  recommendation  of  the  water  board  made  nine 
years  ago,  and  the  advice  of  the  other  experts  who  have 
studied  the  subject.  In  this  respect  the  city  is  in  no  differ- 


83 


ent  position  from  that  of  other  cities  supplied  from  streams 
and  ponds,  and  especially  those  cities  where  the  sources 
are  located  near  a large  center  of  population. 

By  filtration  the  water  of  the  present  sources  can  be 
made  absolutely  safe,  and  in  no  other  way  can  this  be 
be  done ; neither  is  there  any  other  w£y  to  prevent  the 
troubles  occurring  from  the  growth  of  organisms  in  the 
water. 

There  are  two  methods  of  filtration  which  might  be 
adopted  ; the  first  known  as  slow  sand  filtration  ; and  the 
second  as  mechanical  filtration.  Slow  sand  filtration  con- 
sists in  passing  the  water  through  a bed  of  sand  at  a suffi- 
ciently low  rate  to  permit  of  the  changing  over  of  the 
organic  matter  into  inorganic  matter.  This  is  practically 
the  process  which  we  see  in  nature  when  water  passes 
from  the  surface  of  the  ground  into  the  soil  and  appears 
again  in  the  form  of  springs  or  is  drawn  from  wells.  By 
such  filtration  all  disease  germs  are  removed  from  the 
water,  the  microscopical  organisms  are  removed  together 
with  all  taste  and  odor  caused  by  them,  so  that  the  result- 
ing water  is  absolutely  safe,  from  a sanitary  standpoint, 
and  is  clear  and  free  from  any  other  objectionable  quali- 
ties, except  that  it  still  retains  some  color. 

It  is  possible  to  apply  chemicals  to  the  water  before 
filtration,  by  which  practically  all  of  the  coloring  matter 
will  be  coagulated.  The  water  can  then  be  passed 
through  a settling  tank  to  remove  a portion  of  the  coagu- 
lated sediment  and  then  passed  through  filters,  the  result- 
ing water  being  clear,  tasteless,  odorless,  and  practically 
colorless,  comparable  with  the  best  spring  water. 


84 


Mechanical  filtration  requires  the  use  of  such  coagulants. 
The  coagulant  generally  used  is  alum  and  if  there  is 
sufficient  lime  naturally  present  in  the  water,  no  other 
chemical  is  necessary ; but  in  some  cases  it  is  necessary  to 
add  lime  or  soda  ash  in  addition  to  the  alum.  The  alum  is 
applied  to  the  water  in  quantities  varying  with  different 
waters,  but  in  general  it  amounts  to  about  one  grain  of 
alum  per  gallon  of  water  filtered,  or  roughly  speaking,  for 
the  purification  of  the  Lynn  water  about  809  pounds  of 
alum  per  day  would  be  required. 

After  the  coagulant  is  applied  the  water  is  passed  through 
settling  tanks,  where  a large  proportion  of  the  precipitated 
material  is  settled  out  and  the  water  is  then  passed  through 
small  filters  at  a rate  of  from  100,000,000  to  125,000,000 
gallons  per  acre  per  day.  The  filters  do  not  act,  properly 
speaking,  as  filters,  but  rather  as  strainers  for  straining 
out  the  material  which  has  been  coagulated,  and  the  removal 
of  bacteria  is  accomplished  by  mechanical  action  rather 
than  any  chemical  change. 

Mechanical  filters  are  cleaned  by  a mechanical  arrange- 
ment. When  it  becomes  necessary  to  clean  them,  which 
with  some  waters  may  be  several  times  a day,  the  current 
of  water  is  reversed,  the  filtered  water  coming  up  through 
the  sand  from  the  bottom  and  at  the  same  time  the  sand  is 
agitated  either  by  revolving  arms,  or  in  the  more  modern 
filters  by  means  of  compressed  air  introduced  at  the  bottom 
of  the  filter.  This  thoroughly  washes  the  sand  grains 
and  the  dirty  water  is  carried  off  from  the  top  of  the  sand, 
after  which  the  filter  is  ready  for  another  application  of 


water. 


85 


Both  of  these  systems  of  filtration  are  in  common  use 
and  both  give  good  results,  mechanical  filtration  being 
preferred  where  waters  are  likely  to  contain  clay  which 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  removed  without  coagulation. 
The  first  cost  of  construction  of  mechanical  filters  is  much 
less  than  the  cost  of  slow  sand  filters,  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  operating  expenses  of  the  mechanical  filter  plant 
are  much  greater  than  the  operating  expenses  of  slow 
sand  filtration.  One  great  advantage  of  slow  sand  filtra- 
tion is  that  it  requires  less  attention  than  a mechanical  fil- 
ter plant  and  the  results  of  inattention  or  unskilled  atten- 
tion are  much  less  serious.  In  the  operation  of  the 
mechanical  filter  plant  there  are  always  possibilities  of 
neglect  or  of  carelessness  on  the  part  of  the  attendants 
which  will  result  in  unpurified  or  partially  purified  water. 
With  the  slow  sand  filters  such  chances  are  very  remote. 
For  the  city  of  Lynn  I would  unhesitatingly  recommend 
slow  sand  filters  in  preference  to  mechanical  filters. 

The  coloring  matter  present  in  the  water  is  of  such  a 
character  that  it  would  not  be  entirely  removed  by  ordinary 
slow  sand  filtration,  and  in  order  to  get  a complete  removal 
of  the  color  some  coagulant  must  be  used.  With  the  ordi- 
nary rates  of  filtration,  the  color  of  the  filtered  water  is 
from  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  as  great  as  the  color  of  the 
water  applied  to  the  filter,  the  color  removed  depending  to 
some  extent  upon  the  condition  of  the  water  in  other 
respects.  By  reducing  the  rate  of  filtration  the  color 
removal  is  greatly  increased.  The  color  is  more  effectively 
removed  from  water  which  has  undergone  fermentation  in 
an  uncleaned  reservoir  for  some  time  than  it  is  from  water 


86 


in  a flowing  stream ; so  that  the  color  removal  from  the 
Lynn  ponds  would  probably  be  considerably  greater  than 
it  would  in  the  case  of  the  filtration  of  the  water  taken  from 
a river. 

Experiments  have  been  made  by  the  State  Board  of 
Health  upon  the  filtration  of  the  Lynn  water  and  the 
experimental  results  indicate  that  a slow  sand  filter  operated 
at  about  the  usual  rate  will  remove  on  an  average  at  least 
one-third  of  the  color. 

The  color  of  the  water  will  increase  with  the  increased 
use  of  water  from  the  Saugus  or  Ipswich  rivers,  which  are 
highly  colored  sources  of  supply,  and  it  may  be  desirable 
to  remove  the  color  from  a portion  of  this  water,  or  possibly 
to  decolorize  the  entire  supply  at  some  time  in  the  future, 
but  this  can  be  done  when  the  necessity  arises.  With 
filtration  of  the  present  sources,  if  the  sources  are  operated 
to  the  best  advantage  ; that  is,  if  the  Saugus  river  water  is 
stored  for  as  long  a time  as  possible  before  being  used,  a 
water  will  be  obtained  which  is  at  all  times  much  better 
than  the  best  water  now  supplied  to  the  city.  The  water 
would  compare  favorably  in  all  respects  with  the  water 
supply  of  any  of  the  cities  in  eastern  Massachusetts  sup- 
plied from  surface  water  sources,  and  would  be  free  from 
the  tastes  and  colors  to  which  every  such  water  is  subject 
at  times  if  unfiltered. 

Very  careful  investigations  were  made  by  the  engineer 
of  the  State  Board  of  Health  and  the  city  engineer  of 
Lynn  with  reference  to  the  best  location  of  filters.  Further 
investigations  which  have  been  made  fail  to  reveal  any 
better  site  than  that  selected  by  them.  The  site  selected 


87 


tor  the  filter-plant  is  at  the  city  poor  farm,  where  filters 
can  be  built  upon  land  not  now  occupied,  at  such  an  ele- 
vation that  the  raw  water  can  be  drawn  to  them  by  gravity 
from  the  various  ponds  and  the  filtered  water  can  be 
delivered  by  gravity  to  the  present  Walnut  street  pumping 
station.  The  location  of  the  filters  upon  the  poor  farm 
land  would  not  be  objectionable,  since  they  would  be  cov- 
ered with  earth  and  grassed  over  and  would  not  be  in  any 
way  unsightly  or  interfere  with  the  development  of  adjac- 
ent property. 

The  water  can  be  filtered  satisfactorily  by  slow  sand 
filtration  at  rates  of  from  2,500,000  gallons  per  day  and 
upwards,  depending  upon  the  character  of  the  water  filtered. 
The  water  drawn  from  the  Lynn  reservoirs  after  having 
the  benefit  of  long  storage  can  be  filtered  at  a much  more 
rapid  rate  than  river  water  containing  a large  amount  of 
sediment,  or  which  is  highly  polluted. 

There  will  probably  be  times  when  the  organic  matter 

present  in  the  water  drawn  from  the  reservoirs  is  increased 

♦ 

by  the  abundant  growths  of  organisms  that  a fairly  low 
rate  would  be  necessary,  but  it  would  seem  to  be  perfectly 
safe  to  count  on  filtering  the  water  at  rates  of  at  least 

3.000. 000  to  4,000,000  gallons  per  acre  per  day,  and  it  is 
possible  that  in  the  operation  of  the  filter  satisfactory 
results  might  be  obtained  at  much  higher  rates.  For  the 
requirements  of  the  city  for  a reasonable  time  in  the  future, 
three  acres  of  filters  should  be  sufficient  and  this  plant 
when  it  is  all  in  use  will  surely  filter  from  9,000,000  to 

12.000. 000  gallons  per  day. 

An  estimate  has  been  made  of  the  cost  of  six  one-half 


88 


acre  filter-beds,  so  designed  that  additional  filtering  area 
can  be  readily  added  if  it  should  be  found  necessary.  The 
filters  would  consist  of  four  feet  in  depth  of  suitable  sand, 
contained  in  masonry  structures  and  covered  with  concrete 
roofs. 

The  filtered  water  would  be  collected  in  a covered 
masonry  clear  water  reservoir  located  near  the  filters  from 
which  it  would  flow  to  the  pumping  station  by  gravity,  the 
function  of  the  clear  water  reservoir  being  simply  to  equal- 
ize the  flow. 

The  piping  necessary  to  bring  the  water  to  the  filters 
and  to  convey  it  from  the  filters  to  the  pumping  station 
would  consist  of  a 36-inch  pipe  connecting  with  the  present 
pipes  leading  from  Birch  pond  to  the  pumping  station  and 
a 36-inch  pipe  from  the  clear  water  reservoir  to  the  Wal- 
den pond  pumping  station. 

The  present  distributing  reservoir  into  which  the  water 
is  pumped  is  an  open  basin  holding  20,000,000  gallons  or 
between  three  and  four  days’  supply. 

By  filtration,  the  organic  matter  is  changed  over  to  min- 
eral matter  and  this  mineral  matter  furnishes  food  for 
organisms.  Organisms,  therefore,  grow  more  rapidly  in 
filtered  water  than  in  unfiltered  water.  The  organisms  do 
not  grow  in  the  water,  however,  if  it  is  not  exposed  to  the 
light.  For  this  reason  it  is  possible  that  it  may  be  found 
desirable  at  some  time  to  separate  a portion  of  the  reser- 
voir so  that  the  water  will  not  be  stored  for  so  long  a time, 
reserving  the  water  in  the  remaining  portion  of  the  reser- 
voir for  use  in  emergencies ; or  it  may  possibly  be  found 
desirable  to  cover  a portion  of  the  reservoir  in  order  to 


89 


keep  the  water  from  exposure  to  the  light  before  it  is  deliv- 
ered to  the  consumers.  It  is  likely,  however,  that  this 
will  not  be  necessary.  There  are  numerous  cases  where 
filtered  water  is  exposed  to  the  light  in  such  reservoirs 
without  any  marked  deterioration  in  its  quality,  and  it  is 
my  opinion  that  such  will  be  the  case  in  Lynn. 

It  is  probable  that  it  may  at  some  time  be  desirable  to 
relocate  the  distributing  reservoir,  constructing  it  at  a 
higher  elevation  in  order  to  give  greater  pressure  in  the 
city.  When  this  is  done,  it  will  be  wise  in  any  case  to 
build  a covered  reservoir,  but  until  that  time  comes  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  reservoir  will  need  reconstruction. 

Should  the  filters  be  constructed  at  the  present  time,  all 
of  the  sources  of  supply  would  be  continued  as  at  present. 
The  only  work  which  it  would  be  necessary  to  do  in  addi- 
tion to  the  construction  of  the  filters,  the  clear  water-basin 
and  the  necessary  connections  with  them,  would  be  to  drain 
the  swamps  on  the  watersheds  of  the  ponds,  in  order  to 
reduce  so  far  as  possible  the  color  of  the  water  before  it  is 
applied  to  the  filters ; and  for  the  same  reason  it  is  desir- 
able to  install  a pumping  plant  at  Montrose  to  lift  the  water 
from  the  Saugus  river  into  the  canal,  and  thus  obviate  the 
necessity  of  flooding  the  vast  areas  of  swamp  above  the 
canal  each  time  that  the  water  from  the  Saugus  river  is 
taken  into  the  system. 

The  cost  of  the  work  necessary  to  be  done  in  connection 
with  the  construction  of  the  filters  would  be  approximately 
as  follows  : 


9° 


Six  i -2 -acre  filter  beds  complete  with  all 


connections,  regulating  apparatus,  etc., 
Clear  water  basin  .... 

36-inch  C.  I.  main  to  filters  . 

36-inch  concrete  main  to  pumping  station, 

$177,662 

16,897 

23,490 

20,400 

Drainage  of  swamps  .... 

Pumping  plant  at  Saugus  river 

$238>449 

7,000 

6,000 

Engineering  inspection  and  contingencies 

15  per  cent.  ..... 

$25I>449 

37.727 

Land  damages  ..... 

$289, l66 
10,000 

Total  ...... 

$299,166 

By  the  purification  of  the  water  of  the  present  sources  by 
slow  sand  filtration  a water  will  be  obtained  which  will  at 
all  times  be  clear,  tasteless  and  odorless,  and  will  be  an 
excellent  water  for  drinking  and  other  domestic  uses,  hav- 
ing all  of  the  good  qualities  of  the  present  supply  with  the 
objectionable  features  removed.  The  water  will  still  have 
some  color  but  by  the  drainage  of  the  swamps  upon  the 
watersheds  the  color  of  the  water  applied  to  the  filters  will 
be  much  less  than  the  color  of  the  water  at  present  supplied 
to  the  city,  and  by  filtration  about  one-third  of  this  color 
will  be  removed.  As  a result,  the  color  of  the  water  fur- 
nished to  the  city  will  be  hardly  noticeable  in  an  ordinary 
glass.  The  color  will  increase,  however,  as  it  becomes 
necessary  to  use  a larger  proportion  of  water  from  the 
Saugus  river. 


91 


The  quantity  of  water  which  can  be  obtained  from  the 
present  sources  in  a very  dry  season  will  probably  be 
sufficient  to  supply  the  city  until  about  the  year  1922.  If 
the  town  of  Wakefield  should  exercise  its  right  to  take 
water  from  Lake  Quannapowitt,  the  time  would  be  shortened 
somewhat,  but  even  should  all  of  the  water  be  taken  from 
this  source,  which  seems  unlikely,  the  present  sources 
would  last  until  at  least  the  year  1919.  Should  the  water 
be  filtered,  the  future  supply  will  undoubtedly  come  from 
the  Ipswich  river,  and  plans  have  been  made  of  various 
schemes  for  taking  water  from  this  source  when  it  shall 
become  necessary. 

The  water  of  the  Ipswich  river  is  more  highly  colored 
than  the  water  of  the  Saugus  river,  so  that  when  this  source 
is  taken,  unless  some  method  of  decolorizing  is  adopted, 
the  filtered  water  is  likely  to  be  quite  highly  colored.  It 
will  probably  be  found  desirable  whenever  the  water  of 
this  source  is  taken  to  remove  some  of  the  color  before  it  is 
discharged  into  the  present  sources,  or  to  decolorize  the 
entire  supply. 

The  best  place  at  which  to  take  the  water  of  the  Ipswich 
river  in  connection  with  the  present  sources  is  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  mouth  of  Will’s  brook,  a short  distance  above  the 
paper-mill.  At  this  point  the  stream  has  a large  watershed, 
and  the  stream  is  only  a short  distance  from  the  edge  of 
the  watershed  of  the  Saugus  river.  The  water  from  this 
source  can  be  pumped  into  the  watershed  of  Beaver  dam 
brook,  from  which  it  will  flow  naturally  to  the  present 
intake  at  Montrose,  or  it  could  be  pumped  into  the 
watershed  of  Pillings  pond,  from  which  it  could  be  con- 


92 


veyed  by  gravity  into  either  Hawkes  pond  or  Walden  pond, 
thus  obviating  the  necessity  of  pumping  from  the  Saugus 
river  into  the  canal ; or  the  water  from  the  Ipswich  river 
can  be  pumped  directly  into  Walden  pond  at  a considera- 
bly greater  first  cost  that  in  the  case  of  either  of  the  other 
schemes,  but  saving  the  necessity  of  pumping  water  at  the 
present  Walden  pond  pumping  station. 

When  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river  is  pumped  into  the 
present  sources,  it  would  be  possible  to  construct  open  sand 
filters  at  a small  expense,  upon  which  the  water  could  be 
discharged  before  entering  the  present  sources,  and  a por- 
tion of  the  color  removed  from  the  water  by  the  application 
of  chemicals. 

It  is  certain  that  the  water  from  the  Ipswich  river  can 
be  much  improved  before  it  is  discharged  into  the  present 
sources,  but  the  determination  of  the  best  method  of  doing 
this  may  reasonably  be  left  until  the  necessity  for  it  arises, 
since,  what  seems  now  to  be  the  most  satisfactory  method, 
may  fifteen  years  hence  seem  less  desirable. 

Supply  from  rietropolitan  District. 

Of  the  possible  new  or  additional  sources  of  supply 
there  seem  to  be  but  two  which  are  feasible,  the  Metro- 
politan Water  Supply  and  the  Ipswich  river. 

The  Metropolitan  Water  District  was  formed  by  Chapter 
488  of  the  Acts  of  the  year  1895.  It  was  the  intention  of 
the  framers  of  this  act  to  include  Lynn  in  the  district,  but 
this  was  successfully  opposed  by  the  authorities  of  the  city 
of  Lynn,  so  that  the  city  was  not  included.  The  district 
has  constructed  works  sufficient  for  several  years  in  the 


93 


future,  and  has  paid  the  cost  of  maintenance  and  a portion 
of  the  amount  necessary  to  pay  the  bonded  indebtedness 
has  been  assessed  upon  the  cities  and  towns  in  the  district. 
If  it  could  be  shown  to  be  for  the  best  interests  of  the  city 
of  Lynn  to  enter  the  Metropolitan  district  at  the  present 
time,  this  could  undoubtedly  be  accomplished,  but  it  would 
certainly  be  required  that  the  city  should  pay  upon  entering 
the  district  at  least  its  share  of  the  amount  already  paid  in 
to  the  sinking  fund  in  the  past,  as  well  as  assume  its  share 
of  future  payments. 

If  the  city  of  Lynn  had  entered  the  Metropolitan  district 
and  had  paid  a portion  of  its  assessment  each  year,  but  be- 
ing still  supplied  from  its  own  works,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
city  of  Newton,  its  aggregate  annual  assessments  would 
now  have  amounted  to  over  $80,000.00.  It  is  certain  that 
in  justice  to  other  portions  of  the  district,  the  city  would  be 
compelled  to  pay  this  amount  for  the  privilege  of  entering 
the  district  at  the  present  time. 

The  distributing  pipes  of  the  Metropolitan  system  have 
not  been  constructed  with  a view  to  supplying  Lynn  and  it 
would  be  necessary  should  Lynn  be  supplied  from  these 
works,  to  construct  a pipe  line  from  the  Fells  reservoir  into 
into  the  city  at  a cost  estimated  in  1894  to  be  $300,000.00, 
but  if  built  now  the  cost  would  probably  be  greater  than 
this. 

The  annual  assessment,  if  the  city  should  take  all  of  its 
water  supply  from  the  district  would  now  be  in  the  vicinity 
of  $80,000  per  year.  This  would  make  the  total  cost  of 
entering  the  district  in  the  vicinity  of  $400,000  and  the 
annual  assessment  $80,000. 


94 


To  offset  this  in  part,  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  use  the 
present  pumping  station,  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
present  reservoirs  would  also  be  unnecessary.  This  would 
mean  a saving  of  perhaps  $20,000  per  year,  making  the 
annual  cost  about  $60,000  per  year.  This  is  very  much  in 
excess  of  the  cost  of  obtaining  an  ample  supply  of  water 
for  the  future  requirements  from  other  sources  and  of  filter- 
ing the  entire  supply ; and  the  quality  of  water  supplied 
by  the  Metropolitan  district  would  be  inferior  to  that 
obtained  from  the  Lynn  sources  after  suitable  filtration. 

The  Metropolitan  supply,  unless  the  consumption  of  the 
water  in  the  district  is  cut  down,  will  not  be  sufficient  for 
the  needs  of  the  district  for  more  than  a few  years  in  the 
future,  and  the  addition  of  Lynn  to  the  district  would 
shorten  the  time  during  which  the  present  sources  will  sup- 
ply the  rapidly  increasing  population.  When  an  additional 
supply  becomes  necessary,  the  annual  payments  will  prob- 
ably be  increased  considerably. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Metropolitan  District 
might  take  the  present  reservoirs  of  the  city  of  Lynn  and 
use  them,  making  a payment  to  the  city  for  the  same,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  taking  of  Spot  pond.  This  does  not 
seem  to  be  probable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  water  fur- 
nished by  the  Lynn  reservoirs  without  filtration  is  of  quite 
inferior  quality  as  compared  with  that  of  the  Metropolitan 
supply.  The  reservoirs  would  appear  to  be  of  no  use  to 
the  district,  except  for  the  supply  of  Lynn  and  possibly 
Swampscott  and  Nahant,  and  the  district  would  have  to 
maintain  another  pumping  station  to  supply  these  places 
from  the  ponds. 


95 


Had  the  city  entered  the  Metropolitan  district  at  the  time 
that  the  district  was  formed,  it  is  possible  that  this  might 
have  been  the  best  and  most  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
water  problem.  At  that  time,  the  Hawkes  pond  reservoir 
had  not  been  constructed  and  the  Walden  pond  dam  had 
not  been  raised.  These  structures  cost,  together  with  the 
pumping  plant  at  Walden  pond  about  $700,000  and  the 
city  is  paying  at  the  present  time  about  $42,000  annually 
for  interest  on  the  cost  of  the  works  and  as  a contribution  to 
the  sinking  fund  to  retire  the  bonds.  This  amount,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  cost  of  maintenance,  would  now  be  saved  had 
the  city  entered  the  Metropolitan  district  in  the  beginning. 

Ipswich  River. 

Authority  was  granted  to  the  city  of  Lynn  to  take  water 
from  the  Ipswich  river  by  Chapter  508  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  year  1901.  Section  1 of  this  Act  is  in 
part  as  follows  : 

"The  city  of  Lynn  may  for  the  purpose  of  providing  an 
additional  water  supply  for  itself  and  its  inhabitants,  take 
by  purchase,  or  otherwise,  the  water  of  Ipswich  river  and 
its  tributaries,  including  Martin’s  pond,  above  the  point 
where  said  Ipswich  river  intersects  the  junction  of  the 
boundary  line  of  the  towns  of  Lynnfield,  North  Reading 
and  Middleton,  reserving  to  the  owners  of  mills  on  said 
river  their  rights  as  mill  owners  to  use  such  waters  as 
flow  to  said  mills,  and  the  dams  connected  therewith, 
except  so  far  as  said  city  shall  from  time  to  time  actually 
divert  and  use  the  same  for  the  purposes  named  in  this 
act ; provided  that  the  city  of  Lynn  shall  not  take  water 


96 


from  the  Ipswich  river  except  when  the  daily  flow  of  said 
river  at  the  paper  mill  dam  in  the  town  of  Middletown 
shall  exceed  ten  million  gallons,  and  then  at  such  times 
said  city  may  take  all  of  the  flow  of  said  river  in  excess  of 
ten  million  gallons  and  no  more,  and  shall  only  exercise 
the  right  to  take  the  waters  above  mentioned,  during  the 
months  of  December,  January,  February,  March,  April 
and  May.” 

The  act  also  provides  that  no  application  for  assessment 
of  damages  shall  be  made  foi  the  taking  of  any  water  or 
water  rights,  or  for  any  injury  thereto  until  the  water  is 
actually  withdrawn  or  diverted.  It  is  understood,  how- 
ever, that  the  city  has  made  certain  payments  to  some  of 
the  owners  of  water  rights  on  the  river  in  Ipswich. 

The  Ipswich  river  watershed  is  contiguous  to  the  water- 
shed of  the  Saugus  river.  At  the  lowest  point  where  water 
can  be  taken  under  the  act  above  cited,  the  river  has  a 
watershed  of  about  45  square  miles.  The  watershed  con- 
tains the  villages  of  Wilmington  and  North  Reading, 
besides  a large  scattered  population.  The  total  population 
on  the  watershed  is  estimated  to  be  3,900,  or  about  87  per- 
sons per  square  mile.  Near  the  head  waters  of  the  river 
in  the  town  of  Wilmington  there  is  a tannery  which  now 
discharges  a large  quantity  of  very  foul  wastes  directly 
into  the  stream. 

The  principal  tributary  of  the  river  is  Martin’s  brook, 
which  enters  the  main  stream  3.5  miles  above  the  point 
where  water  may  be  taken.  This  brook  has  a watershed 
of  12.4  square  miles  which  contains  a population  of  565  or 
45  persons  per  square  mile.  Martin’s  pond  is  located  on 


91 


this  branch  and  on  its  shores  are  about  twenty  summer 
cottages,  the  occupants  of  which  are  included  in  the  above 
figures.  There  are  no  serious  sources  of  pollution  on 
Martin’s  brook,  except  what  may  come  from  the  use  of 
these  summer  cottages  and  the  use  of  the  pond  for  pleasure 
purposes,  and  the  water  from  this  branch  could  be  made 
safe  to  use  for  domestic  purposes  by  removing  the  cottages 
around  the  pond,  and  by  proper  regulation  of  the  water- 
shed. 

On  the  main  stream  above  Martin’s  brook  there  is  a 
population  of  2,530,  or  about  104  persons  per  square  mile, 
and  the  tannery  is  also  in  this  portion  of  the  watershed. 

The  river  is  bordered  throughout  a large  portion  of  its 
course  by  extensive  swamps,  and  Martin’s  brook  has  even 
more  extensive  swamps  than  the  main  river.  The  water  is 
highly  colored  and  contains  a large  quantity  of  organic 
matter  due  to  its  contact  with  the  vegetable  matter  in  the 
swamps.  The  river  has  but  little  fall  through  much  of  its 
course,  so  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  drain  the  swamps. 

Martin’s  pond  is  a shallow  pond,  having  an  area  of  90 
acres,  and  a maximum  depth  of  about  6 feet.  The  bot- 
tom contains  a deep  deposit  of  soft  mud.  At  one  time  the 
water  in  Martin’s  pond  was  at  a higher  level,  and  a dyke 
was  constructed  to  prevent  the  water  flowing  back  from  the 
pond  into  the  watershed  of  the  Shawshine  river.  At  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year,  the  pond  is  practically  filled  with 
organisms,  and  it  does  not  seem  feasible  to  improve  its 
character,  except  at  a great  expense. 

The  water  furnished  by  Martin’s  brook,  while  it  could 
be  made  safe  for  domestic  purposes,  is  exceedingly  high 


98 


colored,  and  if  diverted  into  the  present  sources  of  supply 
would  increase  greatly  the  color  of  the  water  furnished  to 
the  city. 

The  water  of  the  main  stream  of  the  Ipswich  river  above 
Martin’s  brook  would  be  considerably  polluted  by  sewage, 
and  to  use  the  water  from  this  source  it  would  be  necessary 
either  to  remove  the  tannery,  or  to  thoroughly  purify  the 
wastes  from  it,  and  then  to  treat  the  water  either  by  storage 
or  filtration,  as  in  the  case  of  the  water  from  the  Saugus 
river.  The  same  is  true  if  the  water  should  be  taken 
from  the  main  stream  at  a point  above  the  paper  mill. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  there  is  but  little  advantage, 
from  a sanitary  point  of  view,  in  taking  the  water  of  the 
Ipswich  river ; and  the  appearance  of  the  water  supplied 
to  the  city  if  taken  from  this  source  and  possibly  also,  the 
taste  and  odor,  would  be  less  desirable  than  that  of  the 
water  furnished  by  the  present  sources. 

Analyses  of  samples  collected  during  the  past  season 
from  the  Ipswich  river  and  its  tributaries  at  different  points 
are  given  in  the  accompanying  tables ; and  for  purposes  of 
comparison,  analyses  collected  at  practically  the  same  time 
from  Saugus  river  at  Montrose  are  given. 


c 

o 

— 


C 


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£ 

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a 


Bacteria 

per  c.  c. 

UOJJ 

. . . 0 

P'0 

• • • q 

ssaupjBH 

Pp  ri-  00-4- 

pauinsuoQ 

uaSXxQ 

rO  m m vO 

q tp  vo  q* 

|nitrogen  AS | 

.0001 

.0001 

.0002 

.0000 

as-  2 § 

8 8 8 8 

3UUO[ll3 

00  m *0*0 

10  q\  M- 

AMMONIA 

Albuminoid 

Sus- 

pend’d 

.0010 

.006S 

.0064 

.0184 

Dis- 

solved 

Tt-  00  Tt*  O 

On  00  M N 

0*  K-.  N M 

q q q q 

Total 

S'  VO  00  '*■ 

a x <8  a 

00  00 

Free 

00  00  vo  n- 

S*  3-  S-  'S 

00  q q 

RESIDUE  ON 

EVAPORATION 

uoptu 
-Sj  uo 
ssop[ 

uo  0 10  0 

ip  vq  q q- 

po  m pi  ro 

IBtox 

uo  0 00 

pp  O q q- 

vo  to  l>  vo 

ODOR 

Hot 

decid’ly 
veg.  and 
earthy 

distinct, 
veg. and 
unpl. 

decid’ly 
unpl.  and 
oily 

uroglena 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

Cold 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
earthy 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
unpl. 

distinct, 
unpl.  and 
oily 

uroglena 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

APPEARANCE 

Color 

O vo 

VO  XT)  IO  H 

Sed- 

iment 

slight 

cons. 

cons. 

v.  slight 

•p 

3 — 

H 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

Date 

of 

Collec- 

tion 

1907 

July  9 

Aug.  29 

Sept.  17 

Nov.  5 

jaquinu 

0 w vo  Qv 

1 & 5 | 

58  £•  S S 

Martin’s  Brook. 


Bacteria 

per  c.  c. 

: : j 8 • 

uoji 

.0200 

ssaupxeii 

1.0 

2.10 

1.6 

2.1 

1-7 

pauinsuoQ 
u sSAxq 

w m vo 

q\  tri  \q  up  xip 

NITROGEN  AS 

I 1 ? i ! 

o o o o o 

sapuiiN 

.0010 

.0090 

.0060 

.0020 

.0010 

auiaomo  | 

<8  <»«?'?  00 
# rO  *-•  m 

AMMONIA 

Albuminoid. 

Sus- 

pend’d 

$ § S ^ 'S 

8 8 8 8 8 

Dis- 

solved 

\Q  M 00  tJ-  VO 

o\  0 n 00  n 

M M M t-  g 

0 0 0 q q 

Total 

O c*  vO  00  n 

n"  to  S'  § « 

q q q q q 

Free 

O N O CO 

S’  8 5 $ 5 

0 0 q q q 

RESIDUE  ON 

EVAPORATION 

uopxu 
-Si  uo 

ssot; 

K i?  !?  • 8 3 

« d d -j-  tn 

m°  X 

ro  m’  <0  O'  \o 

ODOR 

Hot 

distinct, 
veg. and 
musty 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
musty 

distinct, 
veg. and 
f.  unpl. 

decided, 
musty 
and  unpl. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

Cold 

faintly 
veg.  and 
musty 

distinct, 
veg. and 
musty 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

distinct. 

musty 
and  unpl. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

APPEARANCE 

Color 

1. 00 

•S2 

.60 

1.2S 

1.30 

Sedi- 

ment 

slight 

v.  slight 

cons. 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

Turbid- 

ity 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

none 

Date 

of 

Collec- 

tion 

1907 

July  9 

Aug.  29 

Sept.  17 

Oct.  30 

Nov.  5 

aaquin^ 

Stiff 

$ £■  S 8 8 

fs 


o 

o 

1— 

ca 

B 

u 

c 


Bacteria 

per  c.  c. 

: : : : s i 

uoji 

.0120 

ss3up«H 

o o o ro  <-< 

pauinsuo3 

udSAxQ 

VO  ~ vo  00  00  vo 

On  >h  rO  MD  t*-  xo 

NITROGEN  AS 

saiHUN 

§§§§§§ 
o o o o o o 

SOJBJ^XK 

o ° o o o o 

§ 8 8 8 8 8 

aui-iopiQ 

o VO  <-o  00  00 

N N ro  rO  fO  fO 

AMMONIA 

Albuminoid 

Sus- 

pend’d 

o n oo  n o o 

M N CO  N 

8 8 8 8 8 8 

i > 

flo 

75 

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q q S 8 8 8 

Total  j 

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1 

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.0028 

.0036 

.OO36 

.OO36 

RESIDUE  ON 

EVAPORATION 

uopiu 
-Si'  iio 
ssot; 

10  O VO  VO  VO 

•-<  q C\  c*  fo 

ci  fO  *H  N*  rO  fO 

I^ox 

8 i?  0?  <8  R 3 

tJ-  VO  fO  V)  'O 

ODOR 

Hot 

decidedly 
veg. and 
musty 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
unpl. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
earthy 

distinct, 
veg. and 
earthy 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
earthy 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

Cold 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
musty 

faintly 
veg. and 
unpl. 

faintly 
veg.  and 
earthy 

faintly 
veg.  and 
earthy 

faintly 
veg.  and 
earthy 

distinct. 

veg. 

APPEARANCE 

Color 

>00  10  v?  00  0 

ON  uo  vq  rr> 

Sedi- 

ment 

slight 

v.  slight 

cons. 

slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

Turbid- 

ity 

v.  slight 

none 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

none 

v.  slight 

Date 

of 

Collec- 

tion 

I9°7 

July  9 

July  29 

Aug.  29 

Sept.  17 

Oct.  30 

Nov.  5 

aaquin^ 

00  CO  ~ Th  VQ  H« 

VO  Tt"  GO  N CO  ~ 

r-  ~ • 0 0 O on 

S <8*  S*  8 S 8 

1 

T3 

C 

O 

CL 

£ 

+3 

s- 

G 


Bacteria 

Per  c.  c. 

8 

cO 

UOJJ 

.0120 

ssaupjBH 

00  M O 00 

d « m d 

p9umsuo3 

uaSXxQ 

ON  VO  ^ VO 

Tt"  CO  CJ 

NITROGEN  AS  | 

sgjixiJN 

§ § 8 § 

q q q q 

S9}KJ}Ifq 

.0020 

.0000 

.0020 

.0010 

3UUOIIIO 

c*  M 00  VO 

CO  CO 

AMMONIA 

Albuminoid 

Sus- 

pend’d 

VO  00  rh  (SI 

S*  ^ 8 J? 

q 0 q q 

Dis- 

solved 

t 2 58  vS 

q o5  q q 

Total 

O O N N 

00  vO  On 

ro  co  rh  CO 

OOOO 

Free 

.0036 

.0116 

.0048 

.0064 

RESIDUE  ON 

EVAPORATION 

UOI}IU 

-Sj  uo 
ssot; 

O 0 to  O 

Tj-  W 00  '<*- 

M*  N CO 

TOOj. 

10  O VO  l/} 

vo  up  q n 

tJ-  Tt-  tr)  so 

ODOR 

Hot 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  earthy 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
unpl. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  musty 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

Cold 

distinct 
veg.  and 
f.  earthy 

faintly 
veg. 
f.  unpl. 

faintly 

veg. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

APPEARANCE 

Color 

VO  Tj-  VO  vo 

00  vo  q q 

Sed- 

iment 

v.  slight 

slight 

cons. 

slight 

Turbid- 

ity 

slight 

slight 

decided 

v.  slight 

Date 

of 

Collec- 

tion 

1907 

Aug.  29 

Sept.  17 

Oct.  30. 

Nov.  5 

jgqumjq 

00  N <»  2 

O \Q  C/D 

S 58  8 8 

Skug  River  at  Entrance  to  flartin’s  Pond. 


Bacteria 

per  c.  c. 

uojj 

.0120 

ssaupjBH 

« m o 

pauinsuo3 

uaSXxo 

O N Os  O 

N r-r>  Tj-  ro 

NITROGEN  AS 

.0001 

.0001 

.0001 

.oooo 

.OOIO 

.0010 

.0010 

.OOIO 

3UUOPO 

VO  VO  00  00 

N CO  ro  ro 

AMMONIA 

Albuminoid 

Sus- 

pend’d 

8 8 <8  'S 

8 8 8 8 

Dis- 

solved 

'S  ? $ s- 

cO  H-t  HH  c* 

o o o o 

Total 

vO  ^ vO  O 

*-*  Os  o* 

CO  ih  *-<  N 

o o o o 

Free 

'8  8"  *8  8" 

8 8 8 8 

RESIDUE  ON 

EVAPORATION 

uopiu 
•Si  uo 

ssot; 

O O lO  O 

qv  x>»  qs  ov 

ci  h<  ■-«*  cJ 

mox 

O vo  O vo 

vq  ~ q Tt- 

VO  4-  vo  vo 

ODOR 

Hot 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
musty 

distinct. 

veg. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
f.  unpl. 

distinct. 

veg. 

Cold 

faintly 
veg.  and 
musty 

distinct. 

veg. 

faintly 

veg. 

distinct. 

veg. 

APPEARANCE 

Color 

O n VO 

Tt-  CO  Tt-  q 

Sedi- 

ment 

v.  slight 

slight 

cons. 

none 

Turbid- 

ity 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

Date 

of 

Collec- 

tion 

I9°7 

July  29 

Aug.  29 

Sept.  17 

Nov.  5 

jaqumjq 

OQ  N N 

V?  $ c c» 

Saugus  River  at  Montrose. 

[parts  per  100,000] 


Bacteria 

per  c.  c. 

' : : : 8 : $ 

l>  H 

• . . VO 

UOJJ 

. . . . O O 

vo  vo 

" ' * • S o 

ssaupjpjj 

n q\  vo  00  q 

4*  4-  VO  CO  CO  CO 

poumsuo3 

uaSAxQ 

cO  •-  0*  *>.  N O 

00  vo  vo  0 ►h  0* 

| NITROGEN  AS 

N N ^ N HH  O 

8 8 8 8 8 8 

q q q q o q 

0 0 0000 

§ 8 ? 8 8 § 

aimoino 

S>  \q  SB.  08  q\ 

AMMONIA 

Albuminoid 

Sus- 

pend’d 

O Th  0 00  00 

8 8 f 8 § t 

Dis- 

solved 

VO  VO  00  rf  N O 

T*-  !>.  O HH 

N H-<  N CO  CO  CO 

O O OOOO 

Total 

O C*  CSI  Tj-  0 00 

!>•  hh  VO  ^ VO 

C*  C*  N CO  CO  CO 

O O OOOO 

Free 

.0046 

.0060 

.0072 

.0020 

.0048 

.0048 

RESIDUE  ON 

EVAPORATION 

uopiu 
-Sj  uo 
sso^i 

O O O VO  0 

co  tj-  rt-  ^ vq 

cO  CO  CO  cO  cO  co 

I^ox 

O VO  O O O VO 

\q  q vo  go  00 

00  06  d\  ^ 00  t>> 

ODOR 

Hot 

decided, 
veg.  and 
f.  musty 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
unpl. 

decided, 
veg.  and 
musty 

distinct. 

veg. 

distinct. 

veg. 

distinct. 

veg- 

Cold 

distinct. 

veg. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
unpl. 

distinct, 
veg.  and 
musty 

faintly 

veg. 

faintly 

veg. 

faintly 

veg. 

APPEARANCE 

Color 

00  vo  N N O Tt- 

tj-  vo  00  qv  qv 

Sed- 

iment 

v.  slight 

slight 

v.  slight 

slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

T3 

'Jo  g 

0 

H 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

v.  slight 

slight 

none 

v.  slight 

Date 

of 

Collect- 

tion 

1907 

July  9 

Aug.  26 

Sept.  17 

Oct.  29 

Oct.  29 

Nov.  7 

•siaquin^j 

N VO  M 

3 ^ g.  <55* 

§ vH"  $8  SB  S8 

The  investigations  which  have  been  made  show  very 
clearly  that  there  is  no  advantage  whatever  in  taking  water 
from  the  Ipswich  river  or  from  any  of  its  tributaries  at  the 
present  time,  as  the  water  should  be  purified  or  decolorized, 
and  the  expense  of  obtaining  it  would  be  much  greater 
than  the  expense  of  obtaining  water  from  the  Saugus  river. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  future  additions  to  the  supply 
must  come  from  this  stream  and  the  source  will  be  a 
valuable  one  for  the  city,  although  the  water  will  probably 
be  used  only  after  purification. 

Various  schemes  for  utilizing  the  water  of  the  Ipswich 
river  both  independently  and  in  connection  with  the  Saugus 
river  or  some  of  its  tributaries,  have  been  investigated. 
The  schemes  investigated  are  as  follows  : 

Scheme  /.  Convey  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river  above 
Martin’s  brook  to  Hawkes  pond  by  gravity. 

Scheme  2.  Pump  water  from  Martin’s  brook  into  the 
watershed  of  Beaver  dam  brook ; thence  by  gravity  to 
Hawkes  pond,  intercepting  water  from  Pillings  pond. 

Scheme  3.  Pump  water  from  Martin’s  brook  to  the 
watershed  of  Pillings  pond ; thence  by  gravity  to  Hawkes 
pond. 

Scheme  4.  Pump  water  from  Martin’s  brook  to  Pillings 
pond;  thence  by  gravity  to  Walden  pond. 

Scheme  3.  Pump  water  from  Martin’s  brook  to  water- 
shed of  Walden  pond. 


io  6 


Scheme  6.  Pump  water  from  Ipswich  river  at  Will’s 
brook  to  Beaver  dam  brook  watershed ; thence  by  gravity 
to  Hawkes  pond,  intercepting  the  water  of  Pillings  pond. 

Scheme  7.  Pump  water  from  Ipswich  river  at  Will’s 
brook  to  the  Pillings  pond  watershed  ; thence  by  gravity 
to  Hawkes  pond. 

Scheme  8.  Pump  water  from  Ipswich  river  at  Will’s 
brook  into  the  watershed  of  Pillings  pond ; thence  by 
gravity  to  Walden  pond. 

Scheme  p.  Pump  water  from  Ipswich  river  at  Will’s 
brook  to  Walden  pond  watershed. 

Scheme  io.  Pump  water  from  Martin’s  brook  into  the 
Saugus  river  watershed,  pumping  water  from  the  Saugus 
river  at  Montrose  as  at  present. 

Scheme  //.  Pump  water  from  Ipswich  river  at  Martin’s 
brook  into  the  watershed  of  Saugus  river,  pumping  water 
from  the  Saugus  river  as  at  present. 

Scheme  12.  Pump  water  from  the  Ipswich  river  at 
Will’s  brook  to  the  Beaver  dam  brook  watershed,  taking 
the  water  from  the  Ipswich  river  as  at  present. 

Scheme  ij.  Pump  water  from  the  Ipswich  river  at 
Will’s  brook  to  Pillings  pond  watershed,  pumping  the 
water  from  the  Saugus  river  as  at  present. 

Any  scheme  for  using  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river  or 
its  tributaries  without  filtration  involves  the  drainage  of  the 


107 


swamps  on  the  watersheds  of  the  present  ponds  ; covering 
or  removing  the  mud  on  the  bottoms  of  the  ponds  and  the 
protection  of  the  ponds  from  pollution  in  the  manner  previ- 
ously described  in  connection  with  the  development  of  the 
present  sources.  It  would  also  be  necessary  in  order  to 
obtain  the  best  water  possible  to  construct  pipe  lines  so  that 
the  water  could  be  drawn  by  the  pumps  from  any  one  of 
the  ponds.  Any  scheme  for  using  the  water  of  this  river 
would  also  involve  payment  for  the  diversion  of  the  water, 
to  the  owners  of  every  mill  privilege  between  the  point  of 
taking  and  the  sea.  In  case  the  water  is  taken  from  the 
main  stream,  it  would  be  necessary  to  remove  the  tannery 
in  Wilmington  or  to  provide  for  the  thorough  purification 
of  the  wastes  discharged  therefrom. 


io8 


Scheme  1 . 

Convey  Water  from  the  Ipswich  River  above  Martin's 
Brook  to  Hawkes  Pond  by  Gravity. 

Above  Martin’s  brook  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Reading 
water  works  there  was  formerly  a mill  pond,  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that  a dam  might  be  constructed  at  this  place  to 
raise  the  water  somewhat  so  that  it  could  be  conveyed  to 
Hawkes  pond  by  gravity.  The  construction  of  a dam  at 
the  point  proposed  would  flood  great  areas  of  meadows  to 
a slight  depth  which  would  result  in  water  of  very  objec- 
tionable quality,  so  that  it  would  not  be  feasible  to  construct 
anything  more  than  a small  intake  reservoir  at  this  point. 
The  elevation  of  the  meadows  at  the  pumping  station  is 
about  grade  74,  and  it  would  not  be  desirable  to  raise  the 
water  much  above  this  elevation.  The  length  of  a gravity 
main  from  the  water  works  pumping  station  to  Hawkes 
pond  would  be  about  6.4  miles,  and  a conduit  laid  with  a 
fall  of  five  feet  in  this  distance  would  discharge  into 
Hawkes  pond  about  11  feet  below  high  water  mark,  which 
would  practically  mean  that  the  conduit  could  only  be  used 
when  Hawkes  pond  is  empty.  A gravity  line  would  have 
very  deep  cuts  through  a territory  where  the  cost  of  con- 
struction would  be  large,  and  on  portions  of  the  line  piles 
or  some  sort  of  timber  foundation  would  probably  be 
required.  The  estimated  cost  of  such  a line  is  $350,000. 

The  water  furnished  by  this  scheme  would  be  of  such 
quality  that  it  would  require  long  storage  before  it  could 


Lynn  Water  Works 


no 


safely  be  used  and  it  would  be  more  highly  colored  than 
the  water  of  the  Saugus  river.  In  order  to  obtain  the  stor- 
age required,  it  would  be  necessory  to  pump  water  at 
Walden  pond  pumping  station  as  fast  as  it  was  discharged 
into  Hawkes  pond,  and  when  Walden  pond  was  filled,  to 
shut  off  the  water  and  allow  Hawkes  pond  to  fill  from  its 
own  watershed.  This  scheme  seems  to  be  entirely 
impracticable  both  on  account  of  the  expense  and  the  poor 
quality  of  the  water  obtained  by  it. 


Ill 


Scheme  2. 

Pump  water  from  Martinis  Brook  into  the  Watershed 
of  Beaver  Dam  Brook ; thence  by  Gravity  to  Hawkes 
Pond , intercepting  Water  from  Pillings  Pond. 

This  scheme  is  not  feasible  on  account  of  the  difficulty 
and  expense  of  constructing  a suitable  gravity  line  from 
Beaver  dam  brook  to  Hawkes  pond.  The  water  of  Martin’s 
brook  and  of  Pillings  pond  could  be  made  safe  to  use  for 
domestic  purposes  without  purification ; but  the  water  of 
Beaver  dam  brook  receives  considerable  pollution,  and  if 
this  source  should  be  used  without  purification  it  would  be 
necessary  to  provide  for  the  removal  of  the  sewage  from 
the  village  of  Lynnfield  center. 


1 1 2 


Scheme  3. 

Pumf  Water  from  Martin's  Brook  to  the  If  at  er  shed 
of  Pillings  Pond ; thence  by  gravity  to  Hawkes  Pond . 

By  this  scheme  a water  could  be  secured  which  would 
be  safe  to  use  without  purification.  The  water  of  Martin’s 
brook,  however,  is  very  highly  colored,  and  the  effect  of 
introducing  this  water  without  decolorization  would  be  to 
increase  the  color  in  the  water  supplied  to  the  city.  It 
might  be  possible,  however,  to  decolorize  the  water  by 
filtration  through  open  sand  filter  beds  before  it  is  dis- 
charged into  Pillings  pond,  and  in  this  way  secure  water  of 
very  good  quality.  The  expense  of  taking  water  from 
Martin’s  brook  in  this  way,  including  the  cost  of  the  work 
necessary  to  be  done  on  the  present  sources,  would  be  in  the 
vicinity  of  $375,000,  and  it  does  not  seem  necessary  or 
desirable  to  go  to  this  expense  at  the  present  time,  since 
the  water  from  the  Saugus  river  can  be  used  in  connection 
with  the  water  from  Pillings  pond  for  many  years,  furnish- 
ing a water  which  will  be  of  as  satisfactory  quality  for 
domestic  purposes  as  that  obtained  from  Martin’s  brook. 
A sufficient  supply  could  be  obtained  from  Martin’s  brook 
and  Pillings  pond  to  supply  the  city  until  about  the  year 
1923. 


Lynn  Water  Works 
Scheme  3 

Scale 


Scheme  4. 


Pumf  the  water  from  Martin's  Brook  to  Billings 
Pond ; thence  by  gravity  to  Walden  Pond . 

This  scheme  has  all  the  advantages  of  the  previous 
scheme  and  the  additional  merit  of  discharging  the  highly 
colored  water  of  Martin’s  brook  directly  into  Walden  pond, 
where  it  would  receive  the  benefit  of  long  storage,  which 
would  remove  a portion  of  the  color ; furthermore,  the 
Walden,  pond  pumping  station  could  be  abandoned,  thus 
doing  away  with  the  second  pumping  of  the  water.  Were 
it  not  for  its  large  cost  this  scheme  would  have  much  merit. 
It  would  be  necessary  if  this  scheme  were  used  to  do  all 
of  the  work  in  the  improvement  of  the  present  sources  of 
supply  which  was  contemplated  in  connection  with  pre- 
vious schemes  for  using  the  present  sources  and  Pillings 
pond  without  filtration  and  to  construct  a 10,000,000  gal- 
lon pumping  plant,  a 30-inch  force-main  21,650  feet  in 
length  and  a 30-inch  conduit  from  Pillings  pond  to  Wal- 
den pond.  The  cost  of  this  work  would  be  about 
$210,000.  It  would  also  be  desirable  and  possibly  neces- 
sary to  remove  some  of  the  color  of  the  water  of  Martin’s 
brook  before  discharging  it  into  Pillings  pond  at  a further 
expense. 

If  the  scheme  of  diverting  Pillings  pond  into  Walden 
pond  in  connection  with  the  development  of  the  present 
sources  were  adopted,  the  pumping  of  the  water  of  Mar- 
tin’s brook  into  the  Pillings  pond  watershed  would  be  worthy 
of  consideration  when  an  additional  supply  of  water 
becomes  necessary. 


Lynn  Water  Works 
Scheme4 

Scale 


ii  6 


Scheme  5. 

Pumj)  the  Water  of  Martin's  Brook  to  Watershed  of 
Walden  Pond. 

This  scheme  would  involve  the  construction  of  a force- 
main  7.4  miles  in  length  and  a pumping  plant  capable  of 
raising  the  water  from  Martin’s  brook  into  Walden  pond  at 
a cost  of  about  $240,000.  The  water  secured  in  this  way 
would  be  the  same  as  that  secured  by  the  previous  scheme, 
except  that  the  better  water  of  Pillings  pond  would  not  be 
included,  and  for  this  reason  it  does  not  appear  to  have  any 
advantages  over  Scheme  4. 


* 


Lynn  Water  Works 


n8 


Scheme  6. 

Pump  Water  from  Ipswich  River  at  Will's  Brook  to 
Beaver  Dam  Brook  Watershed ; thence  by  gravity  to 
Hawkes  Pond,  intercepting  the  Water  of  Pillmgs  Pond . 

This  scheme  like  the  others  which  involve  the  convey- 
ing of  the  water  of  Beaver  dam  brook  to  Hawkes  pond  by 
gravity  does  not  appear  in  any  way  as  desirable  as  other 
methods  of  obtaining  the  water. 


Scheme  7. 


Pum'p  the  Water  from  Ifswich  River  at  Will’s  Brook 
to  Pillings  Pond  Watershed ; thence  by  gravity  to  Hawkes 

Pond. 

The  adoption  of  this  scheme  is  not  desirable,  since  it 
involves  the  filling  of  Hawkes  pond  with  the  polluted  water 
of  the  Ipswich  river  and  the  second  pumping  of  the  water 
at  the  Walden  pond  pumping  station.  The  period  of 
storage  possible  in  Hawkes  and  Walden  ponds  would  not 
be  sufficient  to  insure  the  complete  removal  of  disease 
germs  from  the  water. 


120 


Scheme  8. 

Pump  Water  from  Ipswich  River  at  Will’s  Brook 
into  the  Watershed  of  Pillings  pond;  thence  by  gravity 
to  Walden  pond. 

The  carrying  out  of  this  plan  would  involve  practically 
the  same  construction  as  in  the  case  of  Scheme  4,  except 
that  the  length  of  force-main  required  would  be  12,500 
feet,  and  the  cost  of  the  pumping  plant,  force-main  and 
gravity  line  from  Pillings  pond  to  Walden  pond  would  be 
$135,000.  By  the  adoption  of  this  scheme,  water  would  be 
obtained  which  would  be  somewhat  similar  in  character  to 
the  water  which  would  be  obtained  by  the  scheme  pre- 
viously described  in  connection  with  the  development  of 
the  present  sources,  except  that  it  would  be  more  highly 
colored,  and  a sufficient  quantity  of  water  would  be 
obtained  to  last  until  1930  with  the  present  restrictions  on 
the  use  of  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river.  The  total  cost 
of  obtaining  water  in  this  manner  would  be  about  as 
follows  : 


Intake  on  Ipswich  river 

. 

$5,000 

Pumping  plant 

10,000 

Force-main  24-in.  12,500  ft.  . 

. 

50,000 

36-in.  conduit,  Pillings  to  Walden  . 

65,000 

Drainage  of  swamps 

. 

7,000 

Improving  bottoms  of  ponds 
Pipe  line  from  Hawkes  pond 

to  Walden 

75, ooo 

pumping  station 

Extension  of  pipe  through 

tunnel  of 

39,000 

Birch  pond 

. 

9>5°° 

William  S JofJHSO* 


122 


Pipe  line  around  Birch  pond  . 

$43>5°° 

Pipe  line  to  Breed’s  pond 

20,000 

Protection  from  pollution 

50,000 

Land  and  water  damages 

75,°0° 

Engineering  inspection  and  contingencies 

$449,000 

15  per  cent.  ..... 

67>35° 

Total  ...... 

$5i6>35° 

This  scheme  does  not  seem  to  have  sufficient  advantages 
over  the  scheme  previously  outlined  for  using  the  Saugus 
river  to  warrant  the  extra  expenditure,  but  it  seems  likely 
that  the  future  development  of  the  supply  may  be  along 
these  lines.  It  would  be  possible  in  connection  with  this 
scheme  to  provide  for  the  partial  purification  of  the  water 
of  the  Ipswich  river  before  it  is  discharged  into  Pillings 
pond.  This  might  be  done  by  the  construction  of  open 
sand-filter  beds,  similar  to  those  used  for  the  purification 
of  sewage,  at  a comparatively  small  expense.  Such  filter- 
beds  would  remove  a large  part  of  the  color  from  the 
water  and  would  improve  its  character  in  other  respects. 


Lynn  water  Works 


124 


Scheme  9. 

Pump  Water  from  Ipswich  River  at  Wills  Brook  to 
Walden  Pond  Watershed. 

This  scheme  is  substantially  the  same  as  the  scheme 
previously  outlined,  except  that  Pillings  pond  which 
furnishes  the  best  water  would  be  left  out.  Such  a scheme 
would  cost  about  $170,000,  and  seems  at  the  present  time 
to  have  no  great  advantage  over  the  scheme  of  pumping 
water  into  Pillings  pond  watershed.  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  if  the  Ipswich  river  is  not  used  for  several  years, 
it  may  at  that  time  be  more  desirable  to  pump  the  water  of 
the  Ipswich  river  directly  into  the  Walden  pond  watershed 
rather  than  to  take  the  water  of  Pillings  pond. 


Schemes  10,  11,  12  and  13. 

These  schemes  all  involve  the  use  of  the  Saugus  river 
substantially  as  at  present.  The  Saugus  river  in  connec- 
tion with  the  ponds  will  probably  be  sufficient  to  supply  the 
city  for  about  15  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  con- 
ditions on  the  Saugus  river  watershed  may  have  changed 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  may  be  desirable  to  eliminate  the 
Saugus  from  the  supply ; so  that  it  has  not  been  considered 
desirable  at  the  present  time  to  make  detailed  investigations 
of  these  various  schemes,  further  than  to  show  that  either 
one  is  perfectly  feasible  and  at  a reasonable  expense. 

There  appears  now  to  be  no  advantage  in  pumping 
water  from  Martin’s  brook  or  from  the  Ipswich  river  in  the 


125 


vicinity  of  Martin’s  brook  rather  than  to  pump  water  from 
the  river  at  Will’s  brook,  and  the  cost  of  the  latter  scheme 
would  be  considerably  less  than  the  cost  of  pumping  the 
water  from  the  vicinity  of  Martin’s  brook. 


Conclusions  in  Regard  to  the  Ipswich  River. 

Should  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river  be  taken  at  the 
present  time,  the  best  method  of  securing  it  would  be  to 
pump  from  the  river  in  the  vicinity  of  Will’s  brook,  dis- 
charging into  the  Pillings  pond  watershed.  From  Pillings 
pond  the  water  would  be  carried  by  gravity  into  Walden 
pond. 

The  cost  of  such  a scheme,  including  the  improvement 
of  the  present  ponds  and  their  watersheds,  and  including 
an  estimate  of  the  damages  for  the  diversion  of  water  from 
the  Ipswich  river  and  from  Pillings  pond,  and  the  cost  of 
removing  the  tannery  wastes  and  other  sources  of  pollution, 
would  be  $424,000.  The  damages  for  the  diversion  of 
water  are  likely  to  be  large. 

The  water  obtained  in  this  way  would  not  be  of  as  satis- 
factory quality  as  the  water  obtained  by  the  development 
of  the  present  sources,  with  the  use  of  Pillings  pond  in 
the  manner  previously  outlined. 


126 


Summary. 

SUPPLY  FROM  METROPOLITAN  DISTRICT. 

If  it  could  be  shown  to  be  for  the  best  interests  for  the 
city  of  Lynn  to  enter  the  Metropolitan  district  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  this  could  undoubtedly  be  accomplished.  Should 
Lynn  be  supplied  from  these  works  it  would  be  necessary 
to  construct  a pipe  line  from  Malden  into  the  city  at  an 
estimated  cost  of  more  than  $300,000. 

If  the  city  of  Lynn  had  entered  the  Metropolitan  dis- 
trict in  the  beginning  and  had  paid  a portion  of  the  assess- 
ment each  year,  being  supplied  from  its  own  works,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  city  of  Newton  and  the  town  of  Hyde 
Park,  its  aggregate  assessments  would  now  have  amounted 
to  over  $80,000.  It  is  certain  that  in  justice  to  other  por- 
tions of  the  district,  the  city  would  be  compelled  to  pay 
this  amount  for  the  privilege  of  entering  the  district  at  the 
present  time. 

The  annual  assessment,'  if  the  city  should  take  its  entire 
supply  from  the  district,  would  now  be  in  the  vicinity  of 
$80,000  per  year. 

To  offset  this  in  part,  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  main- 
tain the  present  reservoirs  and  pumping  station,  which 
would  mean  a saving  of  perhaps  $20,000  per  year,  making 
the  annual  cost  about  $60,000  per  year  greater  than  the 
cost  of  maintaining  the  present  works.  This  is  very  much 
in  excess  of  the  cost  of  obtaining  an  ample  supply  from 
any  of  the  other  sources  investigated,  and  of  filtering  the 
entire  supply,  while  the  quality  of  the  water  supplied  by 
the  Metropolitan  works  would  be  inferior  to  that  obtained 
from  the  Lynn  sources  after  suitable  filtration. 


* 


127 


Ipswich  River  and  Martin’s  Brook. 

Authority  was  granted  to  the  city  of  Lynn  in  1901  to 
take  a portion  of  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river.  At  the 
point  where  water  can  be  taken  under  this  act,  the  river 
has  a watershed  of  about  45  square  miles.  The  water- 
shed contains  a population  of  about  4,000,  including  the 
villages  of  Wilmington  and  North  Reading.  Near  the 
head  waters  of  the  river  in  the  town  of  Wilmington  there 
is  a tannery  which  discharges  large  quantities  of  foul 
wastes  directly  into  the  stream. 

The  principal  tributary  of  the  river  is  Martin’s  brook, 
which  enters  it  about  3.5  miles  above  the  lowest  point 
where  water  may  be  taken.  The  brook  has  a watershed 
of  12.4  square  miles,  which  contains  a small  and  scattered 
population.  The  main  portion  of  the  Ipswich  river  would 
not  furnish  water  which  could  be  used  without  purification 
in  some  way  and  in  this  respect  it  is  not  materially  differ- 
ent from  the  Saugus  river.  The  water  of  Martin’s  brook 
could  be  kept  free  from  pollution  at  a reasonable  expense. 

The  color  of  the  water  of  the  Ipswich  river  is  higher 
than  the  color  of  the  water  of  the  Saugus  river ; and  the 
water  of  Martin’s  brook  is  even  higher  colored  than  the 
water  of  the  main  stream,  so  that  without  decolorization  in 
some  way  the  water  of  either  stream  would  be  of  very 
unsatisfactory  quality. 

Investigations  which  have  been  made  show  that  to  con- 
vey water  from  Martin’s  brook  into  the  present  ponds 
either  by  gravity  or  by  pumping  would  be  a very  expen- 
sive undertaking  and  the  result  would  not  be  satisfactory. 


128 


To  get  the  water  from  the  main  stream  of  the  Ipswich 
river  to  the  present  ponds  would  be  less  expensive  than  to 
take  the  water  from  Martin’s  brook ; but  in  this  case,  as 
well  as  in  the  case  of  the  use  of  the  Saugus  river,  the 
water  would  have  to  be  purified  before  it  could  be  used. 
Without  purification,  the  Ipswich  river  would  not  furnish 
water  of  satisfactory  quality.  With  purification  the  Sau- 
gus river  would  be  likely  to  furnish  more  satisfactory 
water  than  the  Ipswich  river,  and  at  a much  less  cost. 


Beaver  Dam  Brook  and  Pillings  Pond. 

The  possibility  of‘  using  these  two  tributaries  of  the  Sau- 
gus river  has  been  investigated.  Beaver  dam  brook  fur- 
nishes water  of  little  better  quality  than  the  water  of  Sau- 
gus river,  and  the  expense  of  securing  water  from  this 
stream  would  be  large  in  comparison  with  the  quantity 
which  would  be  obtained.  Pillings  pond,  the  other  tribu- 
tary, could  be  made  to  furnish  water  of  much  better  quality 
than  any  of  the  present  sources  of  supply,  and  it  is  possible 
to  get  the  water  into  the  ponds  by  gravity  at  asmall  expense. 

The  yield  of  Pillings  pond,  together  with  the  ponds  which 
constitute  the  present  sources  of  supply,  would  in  a very 
dry  year  be  no  greater  than  the  present  consumption  of 
water  in  the  city.  It  would  still  be  necessary,  therefore, 
if  Pillings  pond  should  be  used,  to  use  the  water  of  the 
Saugus  river  at  times. 


Lynn  Water  Works 
Scheme  A 

Scale 


William  S Johnson 


130 


Improvement  of  the  Present  Sources  Without  Filtration. 

Scheme  A. 

The  ponds  which  constitute  the  present  sources  of  sup- 
ply can  be  improved  so  as  to  furnish  water  which  will  be  of 
fair  quality,  and  as  safe  as  any  surface  water  source  in  the 
midst  of  a large  population  can  be.  In  order  to  accom- 
plish this  without  filtration,  it  would  be  necessary  to  drain 
thoroughly  the  principal  swamps  upon  the  watersheds, 
remove  or  cover  with  gravel  so  far  as  possible  the  mud  and 
other  organic  matter  upon  the  bottom  of  the  ponds,  construct 
sewers  and  drains  to  remove  the  sewage  and  street  wash 
from  the  most  thickly  settled  portions  of  the  watersheds ; 
construct  water-tight  vaults  where  vaults  are  necessarily 
situated  within  a short  distance  of  any  stream,  purchase 
land  where  the  most  dangerous  sources  of  pollution  exist, 
and  maintain  a constant  and  thorough  inspection  of  the 
ponds  and  their  watersheds  by  capable  and  trustworthy 
men.  Pipe-lines  should  also  be  constructed  so  that  the 
water  can  be  drawn  from  any  one  of  the  ponds  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  supply  the  pumps. 

The  water  of  the  Saugus  river  cannot  be  made  of  satis- 
factory quality,  except  by  filtration  or  storage,  although 
its  quality  can  be  much  improved  by  ditching  the  swamps, 
preventing  the  direct  discharge  of  sewage  into  it,  and  by 
the  sanitary  control  of  the  watershed.  If  the  water  can  be 
stored  in  a reservoir  for  a sufficient  time  before  being  used, 
it  could  be  made  perfectly  safe  for  domestic  purposes,  and 
at  the  same  time  a portion  of  the  color  would  be  removed. 

Studies  have  been  made  of  the  possibility  of  providing 


for  the  storage  of  Saugus  river  water  in  Walden  pond  for 
a sufficient  time  to  insure  the  destruction  of  all  disease 
germs,  but  the  supply  from  the  other  sources  is  so  limited 
that  without  some  supplementary  supply  the  period  of 
storage  during  a dry  season  would  be  too  short  for  this 
purpose. 

With  Pillings  pond  added  to  the  present  ponds,  enough 
water  would  be  available  during  any  year  of  average  rain- 
fall to  supply  the  present  requirements  of  the  city  without 
the  use  of  any  water  whatever  from  the  Saugus  river. 
During  a very  dry  year  it  would  be  necessary  to  pump  a 
small  quantity  from  the  Saugus  river,  the  quantity  increas- 
ing each  year  with  the  increased  use  of  water  in  the  city. 
Plans  have  been  made,  therefore,  for  utilizing  the  water  of 
Pillings  pond  in  connection  with  the  present  sources,  as 
follows  : 

Construct  a small  intake  basin  on  the  Saugus  river  at  a 
point  below  the  present  canal  in  such  a manner  that  the 
water  will  not  flood  the  meadows ; erect  a 10,000,000- 
gallon  centrifugal  pumping  plant,  electrically  operated ; 
lay  an  3 8-inch  force-main  on  Lowell  street  to  a point 
where  it  would  intercept  a gravity  main  from  Pillings  pond 
to  Walden  pond.  The  main  from  Pillings  pond  to  Walden 
pond  would  be  constructed  of  concrete  36  inches  in  diame- 
ter. At  the  point  where  this  main  crosses  Hawkes  brook, 
gates  and  a blow-off  would  be  provided,  so  that  the  water 
of  Pillings  pond  could  be  discharged  into  Hawkes  brook 
when  desirable.  The  36-inch  pipe  from  Pillings  pond 
would  carry  more  water  than  the  pond  would  yield,  but 
this  size  is  recommended,  since  if  this  scheme  is  adopted 


i32 


the  extension  of  the  supply  will  be  by  pumping  the  water 
of  the  Ipswich  river  from  the  vicinity  of  the  paper  mill 
into  the  Pillings  pond  watershed,  which  can  be  done  at  a 
comparatively  small  expense. 

The  adoption  of  this  plan,  together  with  the  improve- 
ments of  the  ponds  and  their  watersheds  will  give  the  city  a 
water  which  will  be  safe  as  it  is  possible  to  secure  from 
surface  water  sources  situated  near  a large  population. 
The  water  will  be  highly  colored,  though  not  so  much  so 
as  at  present.  It  will  have  a vegetable  taste  and  odor  and 
will  be  subject  to  occasional  growths  of  organisms  which 
will  make  it  offensive,  but  the  troubles  in  this  respect  will 
be  much  less  frequent  than  at  present. 

The  following  is  an  estimate *of  the  cost  of  construction  : 


Drainage  of  swamps  ...... 

Improvement  of  bottom  of  ponds  .... 

Pipe  line  from  Hawkes  pond  to  Walden  pond 
pumping  station  ...... 

Extension  of  pipe  through  tunnel  above  Birch  pond  . 
Pipe  line  around  Birch  pond  ..... 

Pine  line  to  Breed’s  pond  ..... 

Intake  basin  on  Saugus  river  ..... 

Pumping  plant  including  station  .... 

Gravity  main  from  Pillings  pond  to  Walden  pond  . 
Force-main  from  Saugus  river  to  connect  with  above 
gravity  main  ....... 

Protection  from  pollution  ..... 

Land  and  water  damages  ..... 


$7,000 

75,00° 


39,000 

9>5°° 

43>5°° 

20,000 

5,00° 

6,ooo 

65.000 

18.000 

20.000 

25.000 


Total $333,000 

Engineering  ‘inspection  and  contingencies,  15  per 

cent 49>95° 


Total 


$382,95° 


i33 


Improvement  of  Present  Sources  by  Filtration. 

Scheme  B. 

By  filtration,  the  water  of  the  present  sources  can  be 
made  of  perfectly  satisfactory  quality ; and  it  is  undoubt- 
edly a fact  that  in  common  with  other  cities  supplied  from 
surface  sources  located  near  a large  population,  the  city  of 
Lynn  will  find  it  necessary  eventually  to  filter  its  water  sup- 
ply whatever  plan  is  adopted  to  meet  the  present  require- 
ments. 

There  are  two  methods  of  filtration  which  might  be 
adopted  ; the  first  known  as  slow  sand  filtration,  which  con- 
sists in  passing  water  through  a bed  of  sand  at  a rate  of 
from  2,500,000  to  5,000,000  gallons  per  acre  per  day. 
The  second  known  as  mechanical  filtration,  which  requires 
the  use  of  chemicals  and  sedimentation,  after  which  the 
water  is  passed  through  small  filters  at  a rate  of  from  100- 
000,000  to  125,000,000  gallons  per  acre  per  day. 

Both  of  these  systems  of  filtration  are  in  common  use  and 
both  give  good  results ; but,  for  the  city  of  Lynn  I would 
unhesitatingly  recommend  slow  sand  filters  in  preference 
to  mechanical  filters. 

By  slow  sand  filtration,  all  tastes  and  odors  would  be 
removed  from  the  water,  and  water  would  be  supplied  which 
would  be  clear,  odorless,  and  in  every  respect  of  satisfac- 
tory quality,  except  that  some  of  the  color  would  still 
remain. 

The  use  of  a coagulant  and  settling  basin  before  filtra- 
tion would  insure  a practically,  colorless  water ; but  with 
slow  filtration  alone,  after  improving  the  watersheds  of  the 


I34 


ponds  by  the  drainage  of  the  swamps,  a water  would  be 
furnished  which  would  have  a color  very  much  less  at  all 
times  than  the  color  of  the  best  water  supplied  to  the  city 
under  the  present  conditions. 

The  most  favorable  site  for  the  filters  is  on  the  poor 
farm,  where  there  is  unoccupied  land  at  such  an  elevation 
that  the  water  can  be  conveyed  to  it  from  the  ponds  by 
gravity,  and  the  filtered  water  can  be  conveyed  to  the 
Walnut  street  pumping  station  by  gravity.  This  is  the 
site  selected  by  the  engineer  of  the  State  Board  of  Health 
and  the  city  engineer  of  Lynn,  as  a result  of  the  investi- 
gations made  by  them  in  1906. 

Plans  in  sufficient  detail  for  reliable  estimates  have  been 
made  for  a purification  plant  consisting  of  six  and  one-half 
acre  filter  beds  enclosed  in  masonry  structures,  the  roofs 
to  be  groined  arches  supported  by  concrete  piers,  the  fil- 
tering material  to  consist  of  four  feet  of  sand.  The  filtered 
water  would  be  collected  in  a covered  masonry  reservoir 
located  near  the  filters,  from  which  it  would  flow  to  the 
pumping  station  by  gravity. 

The  piping  necessary  to  bring  the  water  to  the  filters 
and  to  convey  it  from  the  filters  to  the  pumping  station 
would  consist  of  a 36-inch  pipe  connecting  with  the  pres- 
ent pipes  leading  from  Birch  pond  to  the  pumping  station, 
and  a 36-inch  pipe  from  the  clear-water  reservoir  to  the 
Walnut  street  pumping  station. 

Careful  estimates  have  been  made  of  the  cost  of  con- 
structing the  filters,  and  it  appears  that  the  six  filter-beds 
having  a combined  area  of  three  acres,  together  with  the 
clear-water  reservoir  and  all  necessary  piping,  would  cost 


Lynn  Water  Works 
Scheme  B 

Scale 


136 


$275>ooo.  Should  the  water  of  the  present  sources  be 
filtered,  it  would  be  desirable  to  drain  the  swamps  upon 
the  watersheds  of  the  present  ponds  in  order  to  reduce  the 
excessive  color  of  the  water  entering  the  ponds.  It  would 
be  desirable  also  to  provide  for  obtaining  water  from  the 
Saugus  river  without  flooding  the  great  area  of  meadows 
above  the  canal  as  is  necessary  at  present.  To  do  this,  an 
inexpensive  pumping  plant  should  be  installed  at  Montrose 
to  raise  the  water  from  the  river  to  the  canal  at  times  when 
it  is  desirable  to  use  this  source.  This  could  be  done  at  an 
expense  of  about  $6,000. 

The  total  cost  of  works  for  improving  the  water  by 
filtration  would  be  as  follows  : 


Six  1 -2-acre  filter  beds  complete,  with  all 


connections,  reglating  apparatus,  etc.  . 
Clear-water  basin  .... 

36-inch  C.  I.  main  to  filters 

36-inch  concrete  main  to  pumping  station, 

$177,662 

16,897 

23i49° 

20,400 

Drainage  of  swamps  .... 

Pumping  plant  at  Saugus  river 

$238,449 

7,000 

6,000 

Engineering  inspection  and  contingencies 

15  per  cent  ...... 

$2 5 1 >449 

37>7!7 

Total  ....... 

Land  damages  ..... 

$289,166 

10,000 

Total  ....... 

$299,166 

i37 


The  distributing  reservoir  into  which  the  water  is 
pumped  is  an  open  basin.  When  filtered  water  is  exposed 
to  light  in  such  a reservoir,  organisms  grow  more  rapidly 
than  in  unfiltered  water,  and  there  is  a possibility  that  it 
may  be  found  desirable  to  separate  a portion  of  this  reser- 
voir so  that  water  will  not  be  stored  for  so  long  a time,  or 
to  cover  a section  to  keep  the  water  from  exposure  to  light. 
It  is  likely,  however,  that  this  will  be  found  to  be  unnec- 
essary. 


Future  Supply. 

The  development  of  the  present  sources  by  either  of  the 
schemes  outlined  above  would  provide  the  city  with  a suffi- 
cient supply  of  water  until  about  the  year  1922.  If  the 
town  of  Wakefield  should  exercise  its  right  to  take  the 
water  of  Lake  Quannapowitt,  the  time  would  be  shortened 
somewhat.  The  future  supply  will  evidently  come  from 
the  Ipswich  river,  and  plans  have  been  made  of  various 
schemes  for  taking  water  from  this  river  when  it  shall 
become  necessary. 

If  Scheme  A is  adopted,  the  best  method  of  taking  water 
from  the  Ipswich  river  will  be  to  pump  from  above  the 
paper  mill  into  Pillings  brook. 

If  Scheme  B is  decided  upon,  there  are  several  methods 
of  using  the  Ipswich  river  which  would  be  perfectly  feasi- 
ble, and  the  selection  of  the  particular  method  may  reason- 
ably be  left  until  the  necessity  arises. 

With  the  Ipswich  river  added  to  the  present  sources,  the 
city  will  have  sufficient  water  to  supply  its  requirements  for 
many  years  in  the  future. 


i3« 


Conclusions. 

The  investigations  which  have  been  made  show  clearly 
that  it  is  for  the  best  interests  of  the  city  to  improve  the 
present  sources  of  supply  rather  than  to  attempt  at  the 
present  time  to  obtain  water  from  a new  source.  By  clean- 
ing up  the  ponds  and  their  watersheds,  taking  Pillings  pond 
and  constructing  pipe  lines  from  the  various  ponds  to  the 
pumping  station  at  a cost  of  $383,000,  water  can  be 
obtained,  if  the  watersheds  are  carefully  guarded,  which 
will  be  practically  free  from  disease  germs.  The  water 
will,  however,  be  colored,  will  contain  a considerable 
quantity  of  organic  matter  and  at  times  will  be  objection- 
able on  account  of  tastes  and  odors. 

By  the  construction  of  filters,  together  with  the  drainage 
of  swamps  and  the  construction  of  a pumping  plant  at 
Montrose  at  a cost  of  $299,000,  water  can  be  obtained 
which  will  have  little  color,  and  which  will  be  absolutely 
clear,  tasteless  and  odorless. 

The  cost  of  operating  the  filter  plant  will  be  about  $6,000 
per  year,  which  is  practically  the  interest  and  the  contri- 
bution to  the  sinking  fund  required  by  the  extra  cost  of 
Scheme  A;  so  that  the  annual  payment  required  by  the 
city  by  the  two  schemes  would  be  practically  the  same. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

WILLIAM  S.  JOHNSON, 

Civil  Engineer. 


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